The quarantine measures gradually lift, businesses and employees start to get back to the usual order. As a result, the increase in the number of people meeting and working in one place can lead to the new spike of COVID-19 spread. This is why business owners should show extremely high responsibility during preparing the working space and take all measures for providing a safe environment for them.
The essential steps to perform during such preparation are:
- provide employees with PPE and ensure its properly used;
- install sanitizers in public places like kitchen, restroom, reception, etc.;
- perform regular cleaning and ensure high-touch points are thoroughly processed;
- hire a decontamination service team;
- provide employees with the ability to keep social distance during their work.
Checklist to Return to the Office from Signature Water and Fire Restoration
Take Care of Proper Decontamination
According to researches, the main type of spreading for COVID-19 is via droplets, which easily contaminate the surfaces near which they fell. This is why it’s highly recommended to perform regular decontamination of the entire office or any other working space.
Majorly there’re 3 cases when the decontamination is required:
- preparing working space for employees before they came back;
- decontaminating working area if someone has the confirmed COVID-19 case;
- ordinary decontamination made biweekly or monthly.
Evaluate Risks and Make Respective Decisions
Before employees will get back to work it’s required to assess the things people regularly touch and develop the cleaning plan for these places. For example print zones and printers, restrooms, doorknobs, kitchen, and things in it. These things should be communicated to the cleaning team and regularly processed and sanitized at least several times per day.
An additional point is to communicate these places and things to employees as well and put their sanitizers, so employees can disinfect hands before or after contact with these things. This will evidence the highest hygiene standards.
Products
The quality of products used for cleaning matters. The best solutions for cleaning any hard surface, including office equipment, have high alcohol content, white walls and floors are better to clean with sodium hypochlorite.
Communication and Training
Provide your employees with all the necessary information regarding the importance of hygiene and best practices applied for keeping things regularly touched clean. Ensure such places have posters as reminders of actions expected from employees and performed by the business owner for keeping a safe working environment.
Provide Employees with Enough Space
Plan the workplace considering the necessity to keep a social distance for your employees. A good idea is to use the tape for marking the distance necessary for keeping in queues or at other spaces. Another point is to develop a plan for using public places, like a kitchen and conference rooms. Restrict the number of people allowed to visit these areas at one time and try to avoid real meetings by replacing them by conference calls or online meetings.
Extend or Introduce Remote Work
If your business specifics allow you to develop work shifts and encourage people for working from home that would be a great step in promoting social distancing. Such an approach restricts infection spread and allows employees to stay safe.
Please consider that the entire COVID-19 situation is very stressful, so many employees may feel nervous or anxious during returning back to the office. Ensure they’re able to get the full information regarding the new working order, procedures took place to provide them with a safe workspace, and support or consultations, if needed.
One of the popular decisions is to involve professionals like Signature Water and Fire Restoration for cleaning of working place and preparing it for employees returning. We provide a high range of services including thorough specific cleaning or regular ones, allowing you to do your job, while we do us.