We live in an age where a global pandemic is quickly spreading between people wherever they go. Since life has to go on and some people have to keep going to work in their offices, it is important to know how you can protect yourself and those around you from the dangerous virus. Offices often have numerous employees working side by side in teams or individually to keep their establishment running smoothly and making profits. Here are some protective measures your office can implement in order to prevent COVID-19 transmission and ensure everyone is safe.
Wear Masks
Masks have been proven to be one of the best ways to avoid transmission of COVID-19. Make sure that when your employees are moving around the office that they are wearing masks. It is a very simple and effective way to keep them safe.
Encourage Hand Washing
One of the main things you should really focus on in your office to protect everyone against COVID-19 is encouraging your employees to wash their hands regularly. All the global health organizations are swearing by the effects of regular hand washing for at least 20 seconds each time to remove all kinds of harmful viruses and bacteria effectively. Regular hand washing will greatly minimize the risk of infection and help keep everyone safe in case someone is infected with the virus but is not showing any symptoms. Make sure you raise awareness of the importance of handwashing and personal hygiene in the office and hang signs everywhere to remind your employees to wash their hands so that everyone stays safe in their work environment.
Clean All Surfaces
Offices often have numerous employees going back and forth from one desk to another and touching different surfaces as they go. Keeping your surfaces regularly cleaned and disinfected is essential when it comes to protecting everyone working in the office. Make sure you use proper cleaning products to clean all the surfaces in the office, from desks to floors, and even walls and mirrors. As seen on HealthySole, you can even invest in new gadgets that are made to facilitate the process of cleaning surfaces automatically, or even cleaning shoes when people are on their way in or out of any room so that the risk of virus spreading is greatly reduced. Anything that can be touched by any of the employees in your office is something that should be disinfected on a regular basis to reduce the risk of COVID spreading.
Install Disinfection Booths
Many of those who get infected by the COVID-19 virus do not show symptoms until after a few days or may not show any symptoms at all, yet they can still be spreading the virus everywhere they go. To reduce the risk of your employees infecting one another when they walk into the office, it can be a good idea to invest in a disinfection booth on the door of your office to remove any lodging bacteria or viruses on people’s clothes and faces before they enter the workplace. It can also be a good idea to have someone measure people’s temperatures with a digital thermometer before they walk into the office to ensure nobody is infected without realizing they actually are.
Keep Employees Distant From One Another
When it comes to protecting your employees from COVID-19 transmission in the workplace, one of the most effective measures to implement is social distancing. You need to make sure all your employees are standing or sitting at a safe distance from one another to reduce the risk of the virus spreading, and ensure everyone is safe while working. You can start by making some space between each desk in the office and reducing the number of employees you have by giving them alternate shifts so that they can all keep their jobs but stay safe at the same time. It can also be a good idea to have some of your employees work from home whenever possible and start a virtual office environment rather than risk everyone’s safety. This way, you will be saving your employees from all the hassle of having to come to the office every day and reducing the risk of transmitting the virus. If your employees have to go to the office, then make sure they are distant from one another and wearing face masks at all times.
Implement an Agile Workplace
An Agile Workplace concept is an activity-based work space that makes the work space flexible. It is an office hoteling reservation technique or set up in a workplace. It is a way of utilizing a work area more efficiently, utilizing non-assigned seating arrangement and desk-sharing to maximize and creating collaborative spaces. Employees who don’t need to be in the office daily can make reservations to come in when they or you need them to do so. This way will limit the number of employees in the office at any one time and therefor reduce the risk to those employees wh are in the office.
A Scary Time for Employees
Living and working through a pandemic can be pretty scary. In order to keep yourself and all your employees safe in the workplace, you need to make sure you are following all the basic protective measures to prevent COVID-19 transmission by reducing the risk of infection and ensure the work keeps running smoothly. Make sure you raise the awareness of your employees about all the safety procedures they need to take to stay safe against the virus. It can also be a good idea to put some effort into creating a virtual office space where your employees can work from home and nobody has to risk their health in the first place.
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