The year 2020 started with a big bang! Everything went well until the day when the news of a worldwide pandemic broke out. Covid-19 had spread across the globe. Lockdowns were announced, and things came to a stand-still. But working from home continued.
Cheers to the workforce who continue supporting their organizations even at such tough times. Employers are eagerly waiting to welcome their teams and see them getting back to their workstations.
But before this, make sure to take necessary precautions to avoid the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace.
Maintain cleanliness and hygiene – Frequently touched objects such as door handles, workstations, desks, telephones, and switches should be wiped with a disinfectant regularly to avoid any infections.
Maintain hand hygiene – Display posters to promote regular hand washing. Make sure hand sanitizer dispensers are placed at prominent locations and encourage people to use these regularly. Remove finger-print sensor and activate face detection. Otherwise, make sure employees use a hand disinfectant before and after placing their fingers on the sensor.
Maintain good respiratory hygiene – Encourage the use of face masks and paper tissues if people experience a runny nose or cough at work. Provide closed bins near their workstations for disposing these used tissues.
Stay at home or work from home – Request employees to stay at home or work from home if they’re experiencing any symptoms of Covid-19 or if there’s a case of community spread in their residential area.
Precautions to be taken for meetings
- In case of meetings, check whether a face-to-face meeting can be replaced by a virtual meeting? If not, consider scaling down the number of people.
- During the meeting, make sure all participants use a face mask and maintain social distancing. Avoid handshakes. Instead, say “hello” or “Namaste”.
- After the meeting, collect the contact details of all participants. This will help public health authorities to trace other participants or alert them if any one of them falls ill.
Precautions to be taken in case of travelling
- Employees should be well informed about Covid-19 hotspots before travelling.
- Avoid sending employees with medical conditions such as diabetes, heart or lung disease to areas where covid-19 is spreading.
- Request employees to stay in isolation for 14 days if they’ve returned from an area affected by Covid-19.
Employees are the driving force of your business. Their health and wellbeing are of utmost importance.
So…be proactive and take precautions.
