Raghmah Solomon of Vortex Design Solutions believes that by creating a working environment in which employees are safe and free to flourish, is extremely beneficial for both a company’s culture and bottom-line.
Here are ways to safeguard your building and/or workspace:
Go the extra mile to make sure your staff members understand how the new health and safety regulations work and why they are in place. No measures you adopt are going to be effective if your staff members are not educated in-situ on how to use them or on the facts about how Covid-19 is transmitted.
Some buildings use finger biometrics for security reasons. These are easily replaced with card-controlled access systems which eliminate the risk posed by employees touching the same touchpad continuously.
Many doors have no closing mechanism which means staff must touch the handles. Automating doors with a door closer and a no-touch sensor button is an easy and unobtrusive step towards safety.
Apart from having proven psychological benefits, a clean workspace will eliminate possible places for the virus to linger.
Areas of top priority are worktops that are not hygiene friendly in reception areas and canteen areas, as well as sale points at retail spaces which should have sneeze guards.
Have mobile hand sanitiser units at as many common touchpoints as possible for people to disinfect should they touch a shared space.
The safest way to be in a shared space is to adhere to the 2metre distancing as per the office quarantine solutions guidelines. Invest in mindful, sustainable technology for teams to restructure their collaborative meetings and team huddles, as well as information signage to keep all members of your company in contact and up to date.
We already know that a virus will survive on many surfaces that make up our office spaces and this means the potential risks for virus transmission in the workplace is everywhere.
It is the responsibility of every business owner to adhere to the health and safety regulations in order to protect their labour force.
