Many countries worldwide have commenced to take it easy on lockdown measures imposed during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, companies need to put in place safety and strategy measures before their employees return to work.
The CDC’s statistics indicate that the coronavirus can remain active on the surface for hours to days depending on the surface type. As you plan to reopen your company, sanitization will always be the order of the day to prevent Covid-19.
This article will keep you more informed on the post- Covid-19 office safety checklist, which will help your company implement the latest health guide for reopening your offices.
The Workplace After COVID-19: New Normal
In case you are planning to open your workplace during this pandemic of Covid-19. there are extra additional safety precautions you need to add to your current security guidelines. These safety measures are essential since they play a crucial role in minimizing the spread of Covid-19, especially when your employees return to work.
CDC emphasizes that every employer uses the office safety guide for COVID-19. This office safety guide enables you to understand what you need to put in place to guarantee your staff a healthy environment.
You must understand that Covid-19 spreads faster at the workplace than in other places since multiple people enter and leave the office the whole day. Chances of this virus spreading are very high since most people pass through entry points, such as elevators, security checkpoints, and lobbies.
Suppose you are planning to return to work after Covid-19. Your company needs to implement extra safety measures to ensure your employees work in a safe and healthy environment.
Office Safety Checklist
Let’s have a look at the detailed office safety checklist below:
Self-Screen and Pre-Screen Policies
The safety and health of your employees commence even before they enter the workplace. Thus, ensure that your employees undergo pre-screen policies and self-screen to determine their health and seek potential carriers to get medication.
This applies to your clients as well as visitors. Advice your employees and visitors to check out for Covid-19 symptoms, such as body aches, cough, fever, and encourage them to stay home if they experience such symptoms. If you want to take screening a step further, you can always opt for business COVID testing in Denver and other cities around the world. Regular tests can detect an active case of Covid-19 before it has the chance to spread among your staff. This can help you avoid closures, lost revenue, and staffing issues while multiple people are out sick.
Development of an Exposure Control Plan
Consider all the ways your employees are likely to contract Covid-19.
To achieve this efficiently, you need to create a Covid-19 workstation checklist; this gives you an exposure control plan. When you protect and guarantee your employees’ safety, you will return to work faster and fully resume your regular operation.
The Importance of Hygienic Habits
For your company to return to work effectively, you need to encourage to observe personal cleanliness and hygiene at the workstation. Additionally, you can emphasize the importance of hygienic habits.
You need to ensure that you provide hand sanitizers at common places they are likely to touch. Supply them with tissues and paper towels. It would help if you also showed them proper sneeze as well as cough action. On the other hand, you need to have commercial cleaners for routine sanitization.
Providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
According to CDC, employers and generally people should put on their masks when in public.
As an employer, you should ensure that you follow these guidelines and support your workers who require PPE.
This means you should build policies that go hand in hand with CDC guidelines and generate sufficient PPE for your employees. It would help if you also educated them on how to wear this PPE.
Social Distancing in the Office
The primary way of reducing the spread of Covid-19 as your employees return to work is by ensuring they observe social distance even with the clients.
Your workstation should not pose a risk to your employees to contract Covid-19. Therefore, your company can reduce the contact of people throughout the working duration. Besides, you can hold meetings via video conference and have a floor plan to enhance social distancing.
You can achieve this appropriately through posting guidelines and suggestions on social distancing. On the other hand, you can ensure that you reorganize your workplace to enhance social distancing.
Modifying Customer and Visitor Contact Protocols
You need to ensure that you observe the safety protocols, especially for your employees, customers, and visitors. You need to improve entry points by enhancing a touchless entry point. You can even opt for automatic door openers.
This allows your employees, visitors, and customers to enter without contacting the door handle. You can also improve your floor layout design to enhance social distance whenever the customers and visitors are conversing with your employees.
Reduce the Number of People in Buildings at One Time
Ensure that your employees observe the social distance; this reduces physical contact when they return to work. Create a more isolated working environment for your employees who have a high risk of contracting coronavirus.
Use Video Conferencing Instead of In-Person Client Meetings
If you have opened your company, you need to build flexible worksites. Avoid or reduce in-person meetings; instead, use video or telephone conferencing. This means you should ensure that workplaces and meeting spaces are set using the best advanced technology to promote remote collaboration through the smart office guide.
Educate Employees
You must ensure you offer your employees sufficient education on the symptoms and signs of COVID-19.
You can also go-ahead to hire a health professional to ensure that he/she attends to all their queries on how they can contract the virus and what they should do if they become sick or come into contact with a sick person.
It is also vital that you discourage them from handshaking, especially when attending to customers. Besides, CDC is against handshaking, especially during this season of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Consistent Communication and Reinforcement of New Protocols
Please use many ways to make sure that you provide your employees and customers with sufficient information, a refresher HSR training course is a great way of keeping your staff up to date with safety measures in the workplace. This helps a lot in the reinforcement of new protocols. You can decide to use posters, social media, and intercom announcements.
Conclusion
With the information above, you are now familiar with the office safety checklist, enhancing a clean working environment when employees return to work.
Make sure that you implement what the office safety checklist offers to the existing office safety measure.
This will help you return to work successfully.
You should always ensure that you take precautions, be safe, and plan ahead for maximum performance at your workplace.
