Step 3 – Minimizing the Covid-19 Risk

As the lockdown eases. Have you conducted a thorough review and updated your Health and Safety procedures to ensure that your company is ready for staff to return to work?

As companies are slowly starting to return to work. The pressure is on the individual(s) tasked with Health and Safety to identify hazards and ensure compliance with government guidance within their workplace. 

We are starting to return following the lockdown. Is your organization ready for the changes required to STAY SAFE?

In our previous Blogs we have looked at:

1) Classifying the Risk to Workers: How the Virus Spreads. Identifying Potential Risks and Sources of Exposure. Low to Very High Exposure Risk. Job Duties Affecting Workers’ Exposure Risk Levels.

2) Risk Assessments: Preparing your Risk Assessment template. Deciding on Methodology. Practical HSE Measures to take. What to do if a staff member is suspected of having Covid-19.

Now we will move on and look at how you can practically minimize your Covid-19 risk.

How Can Workers Help Themselves?

• Employees and customers should be reminded to wash their hands frequently (for 20 seconds or more) with soap and water.
• Provide hand sanitizer and tissues, and encourage your staff to use them.
• Employers should frequently clean and disinfect objects and surfaces that are touched regularly.
• Employees should be reminded to catch coughs and sneezes in tissues, then dispose of the tissue in a bin and immediately wash their hands.

Social Distancing in the Workplace Principles

Social distancing involves reducing day-to-day contact with other people as much as possible in order to curtail the spread of Covid-19. Businesses and workplaces should encourage their employees to work at home, wherever possible.

The advice on social distancing measures applies to everyone and should be followed where possible. Workplaces need to avoid crowding and minimize opportunities for the virus to spread by maintaining a distance of at least 2 meters between individuals. This advice applies both inside the workplace, and in places where staff may need to interact with customers. 

Social Distancing in General Business Settings

• Make regular announcements to remind staff and customers to follow social distancing advice and wash their hands regularly.
• Encourage the use of digital transfers of material rather than paper format i.e., using emails and contactless payments.
• Provide additional pop-up handwashing stations or facilities; provide soap, water, hand sanitizer, and tissue. Encourage their use.
• Where possible to remain 2 meters apart, use floor markings to mark the distance, particularly in the most crowded areas.
• Where it is not possible to remain 2 meters apart, staff should work side by side, or facing away from each other. 
• Essential face to face contact should be kept to 15 minutes or less.
• Where teams must work together, keep the number of workers as small as possible. 

Social Distancing in customer-facing businesses

• Use signage to direct movement into lanes, whilst maintaining a 2-meter distance.
• Regulate entry so that the premises does not become overcrowded.
• Have additional signage in place asking customers not to enter the premises if they have symptoms. 
• Place plexiglass barriers at points of regular interaction, such as points where customers might touch or lean against surfaces, ensuring that they are cleaned and disinfected as often as possible.

Shift Working and Staggering Processes

Where it is not possible for work to be completed at home, businesses should consider shift working or the staggering of processes which enable staff to continue to operate effectively. Staggering on-premises hours also reduces public transport use during peak periods; benefiting both employees and the wider public.

• Split staff into teams with alternate days working from home, or splitting across day and night shifts.
• Where staff are split into teams, fix these splits such that where contact is unavoidable, it happens between the same individuals. This minimizes overall risk. 
• Spread out standard processes, so that only one team needs to be on the premises to complete a task at any given time.
• Where possible to remain 2 meters apart, use signage such as floor markings to enforce compliance. Particularly in the most crowded areas such as entry points to buildings, toilets, and communal break areas.

By minimizing the risk of COVID-19 to your workers, you reduce the threat of losing skilled and experienced staff to the disease, as well as improve overall staff retention. If you need professional help to create a comprehensive Coronavirus minimization plan for your company, please send a message to enquiries@corporateohs.com now.