Educating Staff on Preventing Spread of Viruses
Training for Employees on Reducing Flu and Cold Infections
Aug 31, 2009
Recent scares of H1N1 flu virus infections and deaths are causing employers to introduce or reinforce policies and health prevention measures at the workplace.
As many offices are an open plan cubicle maze due to the cost of office space, disease control has become and increasingly important employee relations and health and wellness initiative. Preventing the spread of viruses like the H1N1 virus requires educating staff to preventive measures and enforcing policies to reduce the risk of infection.
Guidelines to Prevent Infection
- Install hand sanitizers – dispensers are available for hand sanitizers that can be mounted at exits and entrances to the office.
- Put up signage or send memos – encourage employees to wash their hands frequently, but especially before exiting washrooms, and to sneeze into their sleeves and not on their hands.
- Use sanitizing and sterilization techniques – install a dishwasher and clean surfaces that employees frequently use with antibacterial and antiviral cleaners.
- Flu shots – to encourage staff to get flu shots, provide information on local clinics and allow time off to get vaccinated or offer on site flu shots.
- Air quality, heating and ventilation – to improve fresh air circulation, have the heating and ventilation systems inspected to ensure they are working at an optimal level.
Instigating Health and Wellness Policies
- Employee stay home policy – the Centre for Disease Control in the US recommends that employees should stay home for 24 hours after a fever of 100 degrees or more subsides.
- Policies around sick dependents – if employees have a sick dependent or partner encourage them to work from home and/or use sick time so they don’t expose other employees during the incubation period of the infection.
- Revise sick day policies – allow for extra time off for employees who are at a high risk of complications due to the flu, i.e. pregnant women, nursing moms, and immuno-compromised employees.
- Regular Updates – provide updates to staff on local information from public health authorities. Remember to include information for all branch office locations and not just information from the head office location.
- Review past absentee rates – in order to determine if there is an increase in absenteeism it is important to have statistics from the last three years to compare to.
- Corporate policies for school and childcare closures – devise policies to cover closures where the children of employees are impacted. Provide electronic services to allow employees to telecommute.
Preventing infection in closed office spaces requires preventative measures from staff and policies that are enforced. Keeping employees and their dependents and spouses healthy will decrease absenteeism and keeps productivity high during the flu season.
The copyright of the article Educating Staff on Preventing Spread of Viruses in Leadership Training is owned by Joni Rose. Permission to republish Educating Staff on Preventing Spread of Viruses in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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