Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Safety Measures at Workplace to be Considered during Pandemic Period

The emerging strategies and updated safety measures that a lot of  leading organizations of all sizes are taking into consideration and implementing to ensure their workplaces and human capital safely through the pandemic. These measures are being publish to support employers taking steps within their amenities to establish centers for Disease Control and Preclusion and Professional Safety and Health Management measures and sanctions, in the mean time also vindicating operations and business related risks that are beyond the scope of such direction.

It does not meant as administrative, legal, medical or authoritative guidelines. It is only the common best practices consensually communicated, developed and adopted by the big bees. 

1. Most employers have reduced outside visitors’ access or are only the visitors if critically required for ongoing operations (i.e. repair & maintenance service, technicians, etc.).
2. Employers are using predefined self certification for all staff and visitors. It must be complied with before to enter inside the office or working area and the staff and guest is required to certify that one is free of specific symptoms and has no contact with someone having positive testing results for Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) or had some specific symptoms in the past two weeks period. They also ensure that one must disclose recent travel history or certify that he/she did not recently travel to any specially red alert areas.
3. Facilities like temperature screening report is being implemented with following protocols:
1. Limited manpower access to workplace.
2. Temperature screening facility is being conducted at a special checkpoint with reasonable distance from workplace.
3. Trained staff is being appointed at check point who is familiar with the use of equipment.
4. Staff at check points must be outfitted with special medicated personal protective stuff.
5. Temperatures is being checked with an infrared guided thermometer to ensure distance.
6. The employer decides what temperature level is permissible. Commonly permissible thresholds are likely to be observed.
7. Any one with high temperature than threshold limit not allowed is asked to return home and does not allow to enter in the premises.
8. Proper record of personal is being maintained but with strict compliance of privacy policy.
9. Proper steps should be taken to ensure privacy of a worker while receiving his/her samples and if the test result is positive.
10. Employer must take into consideration whether prevailing labour laws permits any compensation for the time a worker spend waiting in the que for his/her medical examination.

STAFF AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT:

1. Employer shall take necessary steps to ensure that all workers should be stationed six feet away from their fellow workers.
2. Some employers have reduced their production capacity willfully to ensure appropriate social distancing.
3. where six feet of distance between workers is not viable, Plexiglas or Vinyl barriers between workstations appropriate face covers for each employee shall be confirmed by the management.
4. As per WHO recommendations, wearing face coverings such as non-woven face masks or cloth marks at all times in the office or at workplace. It will not only help to limit possible human-to-human transmission but will also help to reduce the chance of contamination of surface or airborne.
5. Employer are recommended to ensure usage of higher-grade PPE when six feet recommended radius is not possible to maintain.
6. Preexisting PPE that were required for safety measure before the pandemic—such as hard hats, goggles, gloves, safety shoes, etc. shall not be shared among staff/ Users. Employers are ensuring that policy should be strictly communicated and implemented now and some require that all PPE should be disinfected on daily basis by either the company or the employee.

WORKSTATION MEASURES TO ENCOURAGE SOCIAL DISTANCING

1. Companies are limiting and discouraging congregation of staff in any area where they must be closer together than six feet and with poor ventilation characteristics.
2. Cafeterias and rest rooms are mostly either closed or they are rearranged in reduced seating formations.
3. Many employers have also banned sharing other types of wearable or high-touch equipment, such as headsets, remote controls, etc.
4. Some are implementing additional protective coverings such as keyboard covers and allowing employees to bring their own to each shift and then take it home for cleaning each day.
5. Companies are usually requiring significant cleaning and disinfecting of all high-touched surfaces at workstations at the beginning and end of each shift.
6. If more than one person uses a workstation during a shift then the cleaning and disinfecting regimen is usually more frequent.
7. Any shared tools are usually disinfected before the next employee uses the same, whether that is within a shift or between shifts.
8. A deeper cleaning of the entire work areas is often standard each night or weekly, depending on many factors, including number of workers, types of surfaces, environmental conditions, etc.
9. Some companies are scheduling daily cleaning crews to come through facilities during the day, rather than at night, to show their employees that necessary safety measures are being taken.
10.  Replacing the traditional technology with something that is touch-less—linked perhaps to each employee’s cell phone or a wrist band, etc. Staggering start and end times within a shift so that the time clock usage is less intense at any one time to prevent people from sharing it.
11. In some scenarios, it is observed that staff is being encouraged to take breaks or eat their lunch in own cars to maintain separation while getting off their feet.
12.  Now employers are also using ample signage to communicate room occupancy limits.
13.  They are seeking to install touch-less appliances wherever possible—including all sinks and paper towel holders.
14. Major emphasis is placed on frequent hand washing or hand sanitizing, and, when possible, the appropriate sinks or supplies are located throughout the facility to accommodate the increased frequency.
15.  Companies are focused on cleaning rest rooms more frequently.
16.  Wherever possible, doors are propped open to eliminate a frequent touch point for many staff/ guests hands.
17. some are installing hardware that allows staff and visitors to open doors with their forearms or with a foot pedal.
18. Hallways and other walkways through buildings may be designated as one-way to reduce close-proximity passing of staff.
19. Most employers are increasing the use of radios, text messages and emails to reduce staff movement and face-to-face communication.
20. Time clocks can cause crowds to form, and many companies have reported the following measures to help alleviate that issue:
1. Technological Shift: replacing the traditional technology with something that is touch-less  - linked perhaps to each employee’s cell phone or a wrest band, etc.
2. Installation of additional time clock stations in the premises.
3. Staggering start and end times within the a shift so that the time clock usage is less intense at any one time.
4. Placing social distancing markers on the floor to guide the line formation and proper spacing of those waiting to clock in or out.

SHIFT AND TEAM DESIGN

1. Many companies realize that any worker may get infected or sick at any time, no matter where the exposure occurs. They, therefore, endeavor to ensure that each worker is only interacting with a very limited number of co-workers to minimize the number of people who might be exposed in the workplace and then quarantined or infected as a result.
2. Increasing the time between shifts allows for policies that ensure all workers from one shift are off premises before the next shift arrives, preventing incidental contact between workers on different shifts.
3. Some facilities have divided workers within the same shift into specific smaller work teams. These teams may be designated with a specific marked floor area in the workplace or designated by colour of uniforms or other visual cues. Workers may need to interact at closer distances with those on their designated team, but they explicitly do not do so with members of any other team.
4. Hand-offs are often a critical and normal part of factory operations; everything from clipboards to raw materials to forms or tablets may be regularly passed from one staff to another to facilitate work and all the tracking and reporting that goes with it. Each hand-off should be evaluated from a virus transmission risk perspective and, where possible, reworked to be as distant and touch-less as possible.

ESSENTIAL TRAVEL POLICIES

1. Companies are adopting various policies for essential staff travel. Examples include using only personal vehicles instead of rental cars, providing protocols for cleaning/disinfecting hotel rooms upon check-in and establishing dining policies, such as takeout or delivery only.
2. Additional considerations include the use of PPE and social distancing protocols while on a remote worksite.
3. When sending workers to customer locations, companies are focusing on communicating clearly with customers on safety protocols and inquiring about their own on-site practices.

RETURNING NONESSENTIAL WORKERS

• Employers are determining which workers should return to the workplace based on their effectiveness working remotely versus on-site. They are typically prioritizing those roles with greater on-site effectiveness.
• Other considerations include the distance the employee would be traveling to work, his or her own health status or health status of his/her family members such as being Immunol compromised or having other underlying health conditions or risk factors and whether the employee would need to take public transit to get to the workplace.
• They are communicating clearly and regularly with employees about on-site safety protocols in advance of their return.
• They are monitoring reintegration and reinforcing protocols and policies as necessary.
• Explaining the return-to-work philosophy of the company can be helpful in addressing employees’ concerns.

ILLNESS OR DIAGNOSIS RESPONSE

1. An important consideration is to design a plan for how an employee who reports feeling ill in the workplace will be isolated and cared for—and to make accommodations for privacy when requiring an employee to leave.
2. Consider and plan for how an employee’s positive COVID-19 test or likely infection due to symptoms will be handled.
3. What contact tracing among other staff will be carried out and by what means?
4. How will the employee’s privacy be protected?
5. Determine what facility-related steps will be taken if an employee recently on-site is assumed to be infected.
6. Will the facility close in total or in part?
7. What cleaning and disinfecting protocols will be followed?
8. What communications will go out to employees?
9. As a representative of a community facility, consider developing a working relationship with county health officials so that reporting and mitigation can be addressed smoothly and proactively.