COVID-19 & Your Workplace: Solutions to Protect Employees and Employers Alike

As the number of cases of individuals infected with the novel coronavirus continues to increase around the country, the necessity of keeping public and communal spaces as sanitized as possible cannot be understated. That’s why many business owners, HR departments, and facility managers take the necessary steps to keep their employees healthy and safe from exposure. Keeping infectious disease remediation in mind, including the use of electrostatic disinfection, in the coming weeks and months, especially as more information about the virus is uncovered, is vital to creating a safe environment for employees and employers across Indiana, from Noblesville to Indianapolis and everything in between.

Protect Yourself and Your Employees with These Vital Steps

While it’s true that there is much left to discover about COVID-19 (the disease caused by the novel coronavirus), it is possible to take preventative and aggressive measures by looking at similar viruses and taking note of their characteristics. Here are some steps to take that have proven affected against other viruses like the coronavirus.

Let Sick Employees Stay Home

While it’s tempting to keep everyone working as long as possible, it’s important to note that a slight hit to productivity is both inevitable and better than the alternative. When employers force sick employees to work from their office, those employees spread the illness to those around them. Even more dangerous is the fact that the virus can survive on surfaces for anywhere from hours to days, meaning that anything the infected individual comes into contact with could potentially expose multiple people to the virus.

Consider how many people use the break room or the restrooms a day, and the importance of keeping sick employees at home in order to prevent the infection of the majority of your workplace should be clear. And while this is true for infectious illnesses in general, it is perhaps especially so with COVID-19, which has proven to spread remarkably quickly and aggressively.

If employees are ill or think they might be ill, particularly if they are displaying signs of respiratory illnesses, they should stay home. In fact, they should remain out of the office until they have shown no signs of the illness, including a fever, for at least 24 hours.

Sanitize the Workplace

We know that some people can carry the coronavirus and infect others even if they don’t show any symptoms themselves. With that in mind, it is vitally important to keep your workplace clean and to sanitize everything you can. This might already be common practice in many spaces, however the need for extremely thorough and routine cleaning here should not be overlooked. That cleaning should extend to items like phones, computer screens and keyboards, doorknobs, and toilet handles in addition to the following:

• Walls
• Floors
• Desks
• Workstations
• Bathrooms
• Breakrooms
• Eating Areas
• Meeting Areas

If you think that you’re doing too much cleaning, then you’re probably doing just enough to help keep your employees and yourself safe. One of the best ways to do this is via electrostatic disinfection.

What is electrostatic disinfection?

Most people turn to bottles of disinfectant and towels or sponges when the time to clean and sanitize rolls around. While you can certainly use these methods when it comes to keeping your home or your own desk clean, they are not thorough nor consistent enough on their own to reliably disinfect large or communal areas. We’ve already talked about the fact that the coronavirus can remain active on surfaces for days and missing even a spot could lead employees open to infection. Additionally, consider how much time it would take out of the day to disinfect your office in this manner every single day. If you’re hoping to reduce down time and keep productivity levels as high as possible in the workplace, the “elbow grease” method of cleaning is not a viable one on a long-term basis.

This is a situation in which precise and routine disinfection is vital, and that’s where electrostatic disinfecting comes in. Electrostatic disinfecting is a disinfecting technique used to ensure that every nook and cranny of a space is coated with cleaner. This is done by using an electrostatic applicator that uses a negative charge as the sanitizing solution exits the nozzle to ensure that the cleaner is disbursed evenly and thoroughly. The negative charge from the cleaning solution is attracted to the neutral charge that most surfaces offer. The solution is attracted to those surfaces, in other words, and provides 360-degree coverage.

The science behind the method can be fairly detailed, but the most important aspect to note is that electrostatic disinfecting is a quick, efficient, and cost-effective way of ensuring that your workplace remains clean and safe for the individuals working within it. Electrostatic disinfection companies like Five Star Complete Restoration can help explain exactly how this process can benefit your company.

Avoid Unnecessary Travel

There are steps to take outside of sanitizing your workplace and keeping sick employees home, of course. This includes avoiding unnecessary travel and ensuring that your employees understand both the risk they are taking if they travel as well as best practices to remain safe along the way. In general, however, the best course of action during this time is to keep employees from traveling and, instead, turn to video and audio options instead for important meetings and conferences.

Educate About Hand Hygiene and Respiratory Etiquette

Most people wash their hands, but do they wash their hands properly? For many, the answer is “no”. From washing hands too quickly to not washing them enough, there are a number of mistakes that can be made in this area. Additionally, some people don’t know to cough or sneeze into a tissue or, failing that, a bent arm to help keep any particles from affecting those around them. Now is the time to remind employees to wash their hands thoroughly and be careful when coughing or sneezing.

For more information about how electrostatic disinfection companies can help your business, reach out to Five Star Complete Restoration today!