4 Tips for Preventing a COVID Outbreak in Your Business
Everyone has to do their part in the fight against COVID but businesses have even more of a responsibility. They have to protect not only the public from getting infected when visiting their premises, but their employees as well. Places of business can become major hotbeds for infection, and suffering a major outbreak could be disastrous for your brand. You also need to show your employees that you care and put the proper sanitary measures in place. Let's take a look at a few tips for preventing a COVID outbreak in your business.
Go Beyond Recommended Measures
While some restrictions are slowly being lifted, that doesn't mean that they have to be lifted in your business. If you want to keep the risk of contamination to a minimum, you should consider maintaining social distancing rules. You might also want to reconfigure your floor permanently to deal with any potential future outbreaks. Consider adding dividers and sneeze guards everywhere people are in close contact and close off communal areas until further notice.
Work with a Consulting Team
We would also suggest that you have an expert come in to look at your protocols and see where you could improve. Companies like Infection Control Results can help you determine the best solutions to keep employees and customers safe during the pandemic. They will not even need to come in to visit your premises as they can perform virtual assessments. Doing this alone could help you patch some holes and keep the chances of infection to a minimum.
Encourage Regular Testing and Vaccination
If you have a company with fewer than 100 employees, vaccination is not mandatory. However, you should still try to encourage your employees to get vaccinated. If you feel like there's a strong anti-vaccination sentiment in your team, try to provide them with educational resources on the subject. You could have pamphlets made available to them, or have a speaker come in so they can explain the vaccine, its effects, and benefits. You should also consider having your employees tested regularly. This can be made mandatory if you wish. You will then need to notify everyone in case someone falls ill so that you can trace their contacts.
Offer Face Shields in Addition to Face Masks
If you want to reduce the chance of employees being infected, you will need to go beyond face masks. As you should know, surgical face masks provide the wearer with little protection from virus particles, and N95 disposable masks are difficult to find and can get expensive. Face shields offer additional protection to the wearer and are very efficient when used in combination with a face mask. They are very affordable as well, so this is a small investment in your team's health and your business.
Preventing COVID infections may seem like a never-ending battle, but if everyone does their part, we have a better chance at standing up against it. Start by protecting your employees and the public from infections while leading by example.
Oct 14, 2021 10:08 AM EDT