Are you interested to learn about the right safety measures at work? In order to reduce the risk of transmission at work, you need to follow all the steps. When you return to work you need to take all the guidance for a safe return. As you know the workplaces in India are gradually reopening, but by obeying the rules you can decrease the risk of spread. It is suggested to allow the employee after a negative fit to fly lateral flow tests of Covid-19. In addition, hand sanitization stations are needed in all offices, and only asymptomatic employees are permitted to work. No doubt, this will not be sufficient to eliminate the threat posed by the novel corona virus. But it may help to increase the spread of the virus from one person to another. It is certain that if workplace control measures are not implemented, the virus can still be transmitted.
This post focused on the practically proven safety tips to reduce the risk of transmission at work. So follow the steps properly to guarantee a safe return to work for you and your workers. Before they return, have your employees’ health checked.
We put this suggestion on the top of the list because it is really critical. So make sure your staff is healthy before they return to work by screening them by pre departure lateral flow tests. In order to eliminate COVID-19 transmission in the workplace, you should instruct the employee to take the test. Furthermore, you can screen your personnel in just a few simple steps that we will discuss further. Keep reading to learn more.
Table of Contents
Important Safety Measures at Work
If possible you can send digital forms to employees that need to be filled out. So it is important that employees complete all required things before returning to work. Also, it is suggested to add questions about general health as well as COVID-19-related inquiries. You must verify that they do not live in a confinement zone of Corona virus. In other words, employees must affirm that they have not tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks. Similarly, they have not had any close interaction with a verified or suspected COVID-19 individual throughout the time period mentioned. Make sure, individuals who have been suspected of COVID-19 must complete the sufficient time of self-isolation
1. Conduct a risk assessment in the workplace
In this step, you need to conduct a risk assessment while an employee returns to work. Moreover, you may move on to conduct a workplace risk assessment. For this, you can choose leaders to conduct these assessments. This will ensure that safety precautions are observed once normal operations resume. Before going ahead, you should do a detailed and thorough examination of your workplace. While doing the COVID-19 risk assessment, you should take some aspects into account.
- Location of employment
- Workflow
- Workplace occupancy Workplace activities
- Government regulations must be followed
This risk assessment truly assures you that the workplace is safe and also lowers the risk of contamination. In addition to this, person-to-person transmission, there is a high danger of transmission because of touched surfaces in the workplace. These surfaces such as door handles, telephones, and sanitation equipment.
So, all of these aspects should be taken into account during the risk assessment. If necessary, you should clean and sanitize the workplace before returning to work.
2. Total Avoidance of Human Touch should be enforced
We know it is difficult to maintain the social distancing requirements but you must be properly maintained. You should always maintain a minimum space of one meter between two people. These shared surfaces such as doorknobs, coffee machines, and taps should also be limited. Moreover, make sure that personnel properly sanitize their hands before and after touching the shared surfaces. These kinds of little steps can add up to a significant decrease in the probability of virus transmission.
3. Make Personal Protective Equipment a Requirement
As cases of Covid-19 increase, employees should use personal protective equipment (PPE). This equipment is such as masks for both inside and outside the workplace. It is important to request that your staff wear a mask whenever they leave their residences. You need to be sure that they have a hand sanitizer with them. Give them instructions to wear their masks during working hours. In addition, you should verify that they follow the same health and safety precautions whenever they leave the office.
In order to get extra protection, you can allow them to use gloves with an extra layer of protection. It is important to take care properly if your employees interact with shared surfaces on a regular basis. Another precaution is to provide hand sanitizers to your staff, this will ensure their safety.
So it is important that they use them before and after coming into touch with a shared surface. It is up to you to either provide or have your staff purchase all of their personal protective equipment. But it is important in all situations to use personal protective equipment (PPE).
5. Employees should receive COVID-19 safety training.
Awareness is an important tool to prevent this pandemic. So employers must communicate COVID-19 safety suggestions to employees. This will not only increase the knowledge but also make the essential health and safety behavioral changes. This will help to assure their safety, and also the protection of their dear ones and family members. This COVID-19 safety training contains important things such as workplace cleaning, fit to fly lateral flow tests, waste management, hand hygiene, and PPE instructions. In order to provide proper knowledge, you can also hire a reputable health and safety organization to conduct a risk assessment. These kinds of services provide required training to your personnel.
Final Thoughts
Returning to our regular life appears tough, but not impossible. Organizations can considerably reduce the spread of COVID-19 by implementing the appropriate control measures. In our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, we simply need to be cautious. Furthermore, about pre departure Covid test, and equipped with the correct information and safety practices.
