As businesses reopen, it’s important to prepare a safe workplace. Precautions that you take will not only help to protect your employees from COVID-19 but will also help decrease the risk of cold and flu decimating your workforce. We’ve teamed up with Dr Deb The Travel Doctor to bring you her top tips to help make your workplace COVID ready:
People
- Have procedures in place to ensure sick people do not come into your workplace
- Ask every arriving staff or visitor if they have respiratory symptoms or have been in a coronavirus hotspot in the last 14 days
- Anyone with respiratory symptoms (runny nose, fever, cough) or loss of taste or smell, need to see their GP for a test and NOT come to workplaces
- Get an infrared thermometer and take the temperature of all arrivals. Record it somewhere (write the result on your staff time sheet if you have one)
- Ensure visitors hand sanitise on arrival
- If staff are using public transport to get to work, it is recommended to continue socially distancing. Although not mandatory, consider wearing a mask on public transport out of respect for your fellow commuters.
Place
- Make sure that staff are able to work from home if they need to
- If possible, minimise people touching the door as they enter
- Make sure your workplace is clean and have documentation to show this
- Ensure your cleaners are doing extra cleaning of high contact surfaces (doorknobs,
- phones, workbenches, backs of chairs where people touch the chair)
- Staff may need to be doing some cleaning between customers
- Make sure you have adequate cleaning solution, rags etc. and these are disposed of or washed correctly
- Ensure handwashing facilities and hand sanitiser are readily available
- Have a supply of tissues and masks and easy access to bins
- It is best to work in well ventilated areas. Perhaps hold some meetings outdoors.
Space
- As social distancing is a very effective way to avoid catching this virus and others, 1 meter is better than half a metre, 2 metres is better still
- Make sure there is adequate social distancing between workstations, 1 metre is not very safe if you are close for 8 hours a day, workstations should be at least 2-3 metres apart.
Important things to remember
- Exposure to an infected person longer than 15 minutes increases the risk of disease transmission substantially, a few minutes usually means minimal risk
- Inhaling a larger number of viral particles will usually result in a person developing more severe disease
- Wash hands frequently and practice good personal hygiene
- Please stay safe and be kind to each other
- Be alert, not alarmed!
Thank you so much to Dr Deb for allowing us to share her COVID Safe Workplace tips.
Dr Deb Mills
Dr Deb The Travel Doctor 5/247 Adelaide Street Brisbane 07 3221 9066