Your place of business depends on you to keep your employees safe from COVID-19. If your employees become sick, they will need to be quarantined. Of course, if safety measures are not put in place, you may end up having most of your employees being quarantined – including you.
Since COVID-19 is spreading faster than ever right now, it pays to take some precautions to keep your business open. Besides, your employees will more gladly come to work (and not take multiple days off) if they know you are trying to protect them and their families by implementing the recommended safety precautions. If you have not already put these practices in place, here are some of the primary ones you will want to use.
Wear masks
Although many people fight against this policy, wearing masks does help to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Some types of masks will work better than others.
Sanitize frequently
Since you may not know who may be infected until days later, work areas and counters need to be cleaned frequently. This is especially true in areas where customers also travel in your place of business.
Conduct health checks daily
Probably the easiest way to do this is to take the temperatures of employees when they come to work. This should be done with a touchless thermometer. Be aware, though, that by taking an over-the-counter fever-reducing medicine (aspirin, Tylenol, etc.) a fever may not be detected. If a business has multiple entry points, each entry should have someone present to check temperatures.
Practice social distancing
This means try to keep employees and customers at a distance of at least six feet to reduce the likelihood of disease transmission. This may not be possible in all places; if not possible, masks and gloves should be worn.
Encourage sick employees to stay home
Employees that need the money may be more inclined than others to show up to work even when sick.
Keep employees informed
About the latest news of coronavirus and recommended safety measures. It is constantly changing so someone in leadership needs to stay up-to-date. They need to know about how to recognize early symptoms, when to go to a doctor, how to seek treatment, how to keep others at home safe, the latest details about how long to stay quarantined, etc.
Inform them about the precautions they need to take when traveling
Remember that a lack of caution during a trip can cause COVID to be brought back to the workplace and they may not be aware of it.
Prevent discrimination in the workplace
Some races or minority groups may be more prone to be targeted with discrimination. This may include Asian Americans, blacks, and possibly healthcare workers. People that have had COVID may also be discriminated against, as well as frontline workers: delivery drivers, store clerks, etc.
Ensure that the building has good circulation throughout
Without it, the virus can accumulate in some areas, making it more likely for people in that area to get infected.
Provide the latest information about the coronavirus vaccine
The vaccine may start being released to the public in December of this year. Certain groups are expected to get it first, such as frontline healthcare workers, then possibly seniors, and others that are high-risk. It is not yet known whether or not someone can transmit COVID after getting a vaccine.
Let your employees know that you are putting these practices in place to help keep them safe as much as possible.
