The New Workplace Safety and Security Protocols To Protect Employees From COVID-19 Exposure

As the world around us changes, businesses must keep up with new and innovative ways to meet the market needs. Due to COVID-19, businesses have had to implement new strategies of how to keep their employees safe while fulfilling their customer’s needs. Workplaces must develop new safety and security protocols to prevent their employees from COVID-19 exposure. These protocols can range from placing hand sanitizers around the office to investing in touchless attendance management. Continue reading if you’re interested in how to protect your employees from this vile virus.

List of Workplace Safety and Security Protocols

• Masks provided/required
• Monitoring employees’ temperatures
• Plexi-glass dividers between workstations
• 6-foot social distancing markers on floors
• Increased building disinfecting
• Continued remote work for employees
• Staggered shifts
• Health screenings
• Touchless Attendance

Workplace Safety and Security Protocols To Protect Employees

1. Masks provided/required:

Providing personal face masks and gloves to use makes it much harder for employees to refuse them. Masks should be required when entering any shared public areas. These areas may include hallways, break rooms, entrance, etc.

2. Monitoring employees’ temperatures:

Conduct a thermal screening of anyone who enters the building. Fidentity offers Zenscan, a system that allows its users to run touchless temperature screenings. Employees’ temperatures should be measured daily.

3. Plexi-glass dividers between workstations:

Install glass dividers between all workstations to control the spread of germs. Encourage employees to wipe their dividers with disinfectant before leaving for the day. 

4. 6-Foot social distancing markers on floors:

Employees should stay 6 feet away from each other when in shared areas. To help maintain a 6-foot distance between all employees, place markers or stickers on the floors to indicate where to stand. Placing all chairs 6 feet apart will also assist employees to maintain their distance. 

5. Increased building disinfecting:

Place hand sanitizers and disinfectant products all around the office. Encourage everyone that enters the office to sanitize their hands before entering. Clean all common surfaces daily and employees should clean their personal workstations before leaving for the day.

6. Continued remote work for employees:

If some employees don’t feel comfortable returning back to the office, give them the option to continue their work from home. Employees that have been traveling or attending public gatherings should be encouraged to work from home to avoid spreading the virus if they are contaminated.

7. Staggered shifts:

Create staggered shifts for employees that are returning to the office. This will limit the number of employees in the office to help stay within capacity. Alternate the employees that go into the office daily or every few days so everyone has a chance to complete their work efficiently.

8. Health screenings:

The CDC recommends that all employers take measures like screening their employees and visitors daily. The screening should take place before they enter the workplace. Visitors will be screened upon arrival while employees will be screened at the start of their shift. Ask the individuals if they’re carrying any symptoms or have been caring for someone who is ill.

9. Touchless Attendance:

Make changes in your workplace that allow employees to enter the office completely hands-free. Invest in a touchless employee attendance system to avoid employees from touching common surfaces. A touchless attendance system will monitor and record employee attendance while detecting if they’re wearing a face mask or running a high temperature. This will reduce the likelihood of contamination from the virus. 

To sum things up

There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and the necessary changes that are being made can be stressful to implement. However, protecting your employees and visitors is an important priority. Hopefully, with the help of these tips, your workplace will have more of a fighting chance against a COVID-19 outbreak in the office. This won’t make coughing any less scary, and it won’t guarantee that you’ll escape that haunted house unscathed, but it sure will help reduce the negative side-effects of that dreaded act.