The sound of cars on the highway, the feeling of riding the subway train. The free handshakes, the regular office chitchat, and even the noise of the printer. The pandemic has impacted our everyday lives. We have been at home for months since the lockdown began and it feels like an eternity. We’ve also tried our best to stay healthy while we sat at home with friends or family. With the news about the gradual reopening of businesses and some sectors of society, I’m sure you’re asking the question “How do I stay safe at work during this Coronavirus pandemic?”
It’s a good idea to think about how you’ll keep yourself healthy. It’s always better safe than sorry. In this article, we would be looking at the best ways you can stay safe while working during this pandemic.
Social Distancing
Maintain social distancing always. Stop hugging people who buy you coffee every morning. Collect your coffee cup while standing six feet apart. No handshaking and no sharing of personal items. You can advocate for plastic/physical barriers if you’re working in a role that involves interacting with public customers.
Put your Mask on
Face masks at work? You must be thinking these protective items are uncomfortable to wear and don’t look good with your dressing. You have to put them on correctly in places where you can’t maintain social distancing.
Protecting yourself and those around you comes with the appropriate level of seriousness. There’s already a shortage of personal protective equipment due to the continuous rise of the pandemic. There are also good DIY videos on how to make some of these protective equipment using easy to get items.
Don’t touch the doorknob
You need to stop using your bare hands to open doors, pull levers, or push elevator buttons. Wear hand gloves, make use of tissues, or get yourself an alternative hand tool to protect yourself from touching contaminated surfaces.
Try going cashless
You can adopt a cashless policy to reduce the person to person contact and avoid touching money. Also, encourage your customers to make their orders online. If you’re making deliveries to various homes, keep your safe distance.
Have your meetings online
It’s time to make use of the technology available to you. You can use digital tools like Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype, and other means of remote conferencing for your meetings. Workers crammed up in the conference room, watching a projector screen is just an open door to the spread of an infectious disease.
Stop touching your face
Yes, I said it. It looks normal but it’s not. You need to stop the habit of touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with bare hands. Your hands are always busy touching different surfaces. Pack extra tissues, napkins, and face wipes as they can come in handy when you want to clean your face
Wash your hands
Does it sound difficult? I guess not.
This is one of the simplest and effective ways to stay safe at work during this Coronavirus pandemic. Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. It won’t take you forever and it’s easy to do. You can advocate for an automatic soap dispenser to avoid the transfer of germs to the soap bottle.
Eat-in your office
You need to accept the new normal even though it looks awkward. Have your meal in your office and don’t sit at the food court. Co-workers can also rotate coffee and meal breaks to avoid overcrowding.
Where’s your phone?
You need to avoid giving your phone out to people. Also watch where you put your phone. For safety, you can keep it in your bag or pocket to avoid putting it down on exposed surfaces
Personal protective equipment
Personal protective equipment should stay personal. You’re not meant to share your face mask or napkins with ‘Tony’ from the sales department or ‘Lisa’ at the reception. You shouldn’t leave them lying around. You should also avoid using another co-worker’s equipment.
Be observant
Identify how and where you could be infected at work, and take precautions. When you see a staff or customer with symptoms of coronavirus, keep your distance and alert co-workers and the right authorities
Regular cleaning
Don’t just pick a particular day to clean your workspace. This should be done daily due to the current pandemic. Use disinfectants to clean counters, tables, benches, restrooms, etc.
Arm yourself with a sanitizer
We are fighting a deadly virus and your mobile weapon is your sanitizer. Clean running water may be unavailable. As a result, you need to arm yourself with hand sanitizers containing over 60% alcohol. It’s easy to use after handling things that may serve as resting surfaces for the virus, such as money, door handles.
Rotational shifts
Overcrowding workspace is suicidal. There are lots of risks in having more than 20 individuals in the same workspace at the same time. You can ask for alternating shifts to reduce the number of people at work at a time.
Your Health is Most Important
You may be thinking about how do all these apply to you. They do if you are going to be leaving your home to work during this period.
There’s a chance you could interact with COVID-19 positive people on your way to work or at work. Protect you and your family’s health with these tips. Remember, some individuals are asymptomatic. Stay safe at work during this Coronavirus pandemic.
