After a couple of months of adhering to "shelter-in-place" mandates and the subsequent shuttering of businesses across this country, many states are now considering partial relaxation of those restrictions. Guidelines for reopening will likely vary from state to state, but the trend is clear ---employees will begin to return to work.
Returning to work after the COVID-19 lockdown is certainly not without risk; especially since the virus is still active across most of the country. What can employers do to help protect those employees that will be returning to work? OSHA, COVID-19 experts and CDC have provided some guidance that all business owners and facility managers should review.
Prevention of Spread
Keeping building occupants’ safe starts with good policies. What policies does your facility need in order to prevent the spread of germs? Consider checking temperatures, requiring face covers, providing hand sanitizers, disinfecting wipes to be used at shared workstations and touch-less fixtures and dispensers. Some of these policies make sense for some facilities and unnecessary in others. Be proactive and put policies into place that will work for your facility.
Maintain Social Distancing
Businesses that reopen should continue to maintain current social-distancing protocols. All applicable measures should be taken to ensure that employees, customers, visitors, etc. are able to maintain a personal separation of six feet. In many cases this will require the reconfiguration of interior spaces to help enforce the six-foot rule.
Adopting a flex-work schedule can help keep the work environment more sparsely populated. If practical, splitting your employees into shifts can help keep your employees at a safe distance from one another.
Cleaning and Disinfection
Before shuttering your business, you were likely following a cleaning and disinfection program to try and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 among your employees. Reopening your operation will require that you restart that program. For insights on proper cleaning and disinfection techniques please refer to our previous post cleaning and disinfection. If your business is not in a position to implement a strong cleaning and disinfection program you should bring in a service provider with the appropriate expertise. A few of the basics....
- Assess your workplace: Before bringing employees back to work, conduct an assessment of your workplace. Some areas will require only a normal cleaning. Other areas (i.e. high touch-point surfaces) will require cleaning and disinfection. Examples of high touch-point surfaces include: light switches, doorknobs and handles, door push plates, countertops, elevator buttons, etc.
- Proper cleaning and disinfection: The first step will be to clean the surfaces with soap and water. The surfaces can then be disinfected using an EPA-approved COVID disinfectant. Make sure to follow all instructions from the manufacturer on proper use.
- Eliminate high-risk items: If possible, remove non-essential porous substance from the workplace. This can include cushioned seating, rugs, etc. These surfaces can be virus magnets and can be difficult to disinfect.
Returning to work after the COVID lockdown will depend on several factors. Make sure to stay current with directives and guidelines within your specific city and state. When returning to work, following the principles detailed above will help ensure that your employees will be able to return to a working environment that is safe, healthy, and productive.
These are just a few tips to safely reopen your facility. If you want to learn more and share ideas, grab your lunch and join us at our webinar:
Safe Buildings - Ensuring Safe Work Environments Post COVID-19
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