We’re all encountering first-time and immediate challenges during this global pandemic. One of those challenges is figuring out how to navigate through the new normal in the workplace. As businesses and buildings slowly continue to reopen, it’s critical that you take enhanced measures to ensure that your workplace and/or building is safe before welcoming people back. With that said, it’s just as important that your building occupants feel safe and supported too.
Once your building has reopened, it is essential to maintain a laser focus on the health and wellness of your employees, patients, and/or residents. This will involve adjusting and communicating expectations around new behaviors to ensure safety, security, productivity, and wellness. Here are some things to consider to help keep everyone safe as you continue to work through the new normal.
Provide a Health and Wellness Plan – Take extra safety precautions when welcoming employees and visitors back into your buildings. Be sure to document travel histories and the presence of COVID-19 symptoms or any other known illnesses by administering on-site temperature screenings. Clearly communicate the health requirements for entering the building, such as updated protocols for social distancing prior to entering into your buildings or offices. Make sure respiratory hygiene stations, and other new workspace norms, as well as post-pandemic essentials like hand sanitizers, disinfecting wipes, and masks are readily available.
Support your building’s occupant’s mental, physical, financial and emotional health by providing them with well-being content. Ongoing programming such as a webinars, tips and tricks, as well as e-learning content can help your employees and visitors feel at ease about being back in the workplace. However, for many, business continuity is driven through employees working from home. This arrangement may have been a sudden change, and employees may not be adequately equipped for productivity at home. Therefore, ensuring that your remote workers, whether seasoned or new, have the tools they need to work from home successfully. Establishing protocols and guidelines is critical to drive productivity. It is paramount that employees who are new to remote working be heard, so they can be supported.
Have a Routine Cleaning and Sanitizing Plan – Be proactive, and take positive steps towards improving the indoor air quality for your employees and visitors by having a routine ductwork and HVAC systems cleaning plan. This will help ensure you and your employees, especially those who are immunocompromised, are working in a clean environment. In fact, according to the CDC, using portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) fan/filtration systems will help enhance air cleaning (especially in higher-risk areas).
The CDC also states, you should use ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) as a supplemental technique to inactivate potential airborne virus in the upper-room air of common occupied spaces, in accordance with industry guidelines. UVC lighting is in the news quite a bit these days and is 99.9% effective in destroying COVID-19 without the use of chemicals. If you don’t feel comfortable providing cleaning services yourselves, utilize an environmental cleaning company like ours to come in and provide EPA approved disinfection and sanitation services. You’ll have the peace of mind that you, and your employees need, by doing so.
UVC Light Disinfection Technology
- UVC Light For Coils
- UVC Disinfection Wand
- Mobile Remote UVC System
- Ceiling / Wall Mountable UVC Systems
- UVC Light Disinfection For PTAC and Fan Coil Units
- UVC Light For Ice Machines
After your facility is clean and sanitized, show your employees and visitors that you are fully committed to their health & well-being. By utilizing our sister company, Hughes environmental, to perform the job, we can offer a full media kit. This includes, A Certificate to prominently display in your facility, a digital seal that can be used on your website and social media pages, and a press release template for you to alert to the local media.
For more information on providing health and wellness in the workplace, check out our webinar on A Guide to Health and Wellness 2020.
