As the threat of COVID-19 continually rises and spreads across the globe, establishments and businesses should ensure safety in their workplaces by strictly following health and sanitation guidelines and social distancing protocols.
As an employer, it is your responsibility to attend to the needs of your employees and ensure that their health is prioritized. With that, here's what you should do to ensure safety and sanitation in the workplace:
1. Provide basic hygiene supplies
If your business requires you and your employees to go to the office to continue the business, then make sure that you promote proper respiratory etiquette and sanitary hygiene at the workplace.
As an employer, you should provide and supply your workplace with:
- Dry and wet tissues
- Alcohol or hand sanitizers
- Soap in restrooms
- Clean tap and drinking water
- Hands-free waste containers
If it's possible, request your employees to wear protective gear while at the office. Refrain from supplying or recommending medical-grade masks for their use since these should be reserved for medical practitioners and frontliners. Instead, encourage your staff to wear breathable cotton masks. Doing so will help ensure that your workplace is as COVID-free as possible.
Additionally, you should request your employees to take precautions when travelling from their homes to the office. Remind them to disinfect themselves upon entering and leaving the workplace.
2. Require potentially sick employees to stay at home
As much as you want your employees to have a reliable source of income in this difficult time, you should not force your sick employees to continue to work at the office. Instead, you can offer them to work at home to prevent further infections and help support their financial needs.
If you have the budget and capacity to do so, request authorities to perform COVID-19 rapid testing on all of your employees, including yourself, to ensure health safety in the workplace. Also, regularly check reports from authorized health organizations for symptoms and hygiene guidelines.
3. Perform routine cleaning
Keeping proper hygiene and social distance is not enough to keep your workplace clean and safe from the virus. What you need to do is to perform routine cleaning to destroy bacterias and viruses that are possibly contaminating your workplace.
Office areas and items that you should routinely clean are:
- Work tables and chairs
- Furniture on the lounge and common areas
- Floors and walls
- Doors and windows
- Doorknobs and light switches
- HVAC remote control
- Pantry area
- Bathrooms
- File cabinets
- Telephones
- Computer equipment
If you want, you can hire professional cleaners to ensure safe and proper cleaning. Professional cleaners use the right equipment and methods for maximum sanitation. They do not just clean your workplace, they also make sure to disinfect it to prevent infections and the spread of pathogens.
Conclusion
It is your responsibility as an employer to ensure the health safety of each of your employees. If you would need them to work at the office, make sure to promote proper hygiene by providing sanitation supplies at the workplace. Aside from that, you should perform an office routine cleaning to wipe off and prevent the spread of germs and viruses.
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