Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels
Businesses all around the world have had to put in place strict measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Some of these measures could be worth clinging onto in the future - not only could they help to prevent the spread of any possible future pandemics but they could also help to prevent the spread of other everyday illnesses in the workplaces. By stopping the spread of illnesses, you could reduce the numbers of employees sick and improve productivity. Below are just several ways to stop the spread of illness in your workplace.
Encourage sick employees to stay at home
Working from home has become the norm during Covid-19. When everyone eventually returns to the office, it could make sense to keep in place a policy in which employees must work from home when ill - even when it comes to colds.
In industries where working from home isn’t an option, you may want to allow employees to come in with colds, but may want to still discourage employees coming in with other more serious illnesses. Offering sick paid leave can give employees the freedom to do this without financially suffering for any time taken off. This is likely to encourage less employees to take the risk of going to work ill.
Clean your workplace thoroughly
Illness can often spread throughout the workplace as a result of dirty equipment being shared or contaminated surfaces being touched. By thoroughly cleaning all equipment and surfaces on a regular basis, you can prevent employees from coming into contact with harmful bacteria. This could include equipment such as computer keyboards and POS displays and surfaces such as light switches and door handles.
You may want to hire a specialist company to carry out office disinfecting if an outbreak of a serious illness is detected (such as coronavirus or the flu). Employees should be asked not to go into the workplace until this disinfection is complete. This will ensure that the office is completely sanitized and safe to return to.
Encourage hand washing/hand sanitizing
Keeping hands clean has been a key policy throughout the pandemic. In certain workplaces such as restaurant kitchens and medical clinics this has long been a workplace policy. Other workplaces could benefit from taking it up as a permanent policy too. Putting up signs in bathrooms and strategically locating hand sanitizer dispensers around the workplace could be a way of encouraging clean hands.
Keep your workplace well ventilated
When it comes to airborne diseases, ventilation is also important to consider. Many offices have very poor ventilation, which can allow particles to stay in the air for long periods. By improving ventilation, you can encourage contaminated air to be pumped out while keeping clean air flowing in. Opening windows is one way to keep your workplace ventilated. If this isn’t possible, consider installing extractor fans to help pump dirty air out. You may be able to upgrade your HVAC system to help improve ventilation - some modern HVAC systems are very effective at keeping air flowing and can even help to purify air by filtering out various contaminants.
