SAFE REOPEN FROM COVID-19 LOCKDOWN
and how to stay safe!
June 18, 2020
After four months of quarantines and stay-at-home orders, governments are slowly lifting restrictions. People are emerging from their COVID-19 hibernation. Businesses are cautiously reopening.
Over the next several months, stores will invite customers back inside, though not all at once. Temporarily shuttered service providers will be allowed to reopen provided they adhere to new safety requirements.
Employees who spent the last two months working exclusively from home will return to their cubicles in the offices they share with dozens, hundreds, or thousands of co-workers.
But it will not be business as usual. COVID-19 created a new world. People think about how everyday actions can spread germs and viruses. This preoccupation is not limited to germaphobes.
Whether this world is temporary or the new normal remains to be seen.
For the foreseeable future, companies will have to take several steps to help employees and customers feel safe and to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases.
Here are five steps companies can take to help safely reopen.
Install hands-free devices
Businesses should minimize how many shared surfaces people touch throughout the day.
Common areas include elevator buttons, handrails, and light switches, just to name a few. These high-traffic, high-touch areas accelerate the spread of COVID-19.
One area of emphasis is restroom doors. People will not want to touch the door handle to exit a public restroom after they have already washed their hands.
Consider investing in hands-free devices that help people avoid touching common surfaces.
Foot operated door openers on restrooms doors, entrances and exits - wherever there is a latch-less commercial, wood or metal door, consider this inexpensive enhancement that you can buy for under $40. per door. Contact us at sales@stepnpull.ca
Rebuild confidence in customers
Of course, a worldwide pandemic will see fears and insecurities arise. Some may be hesitant to reentry certain establishments. Show your customers you are putting their health and safety first. Install a stepnpull door unit to communicate – “we are looking after your needs”. Rebuild the confidence in your business.
Provide hand sanitizer
It’s impossible to avoid touching all surfaces in the workplace. For these instances, your employees will feel better about being in the office if they have immediate access to hand sanitizer.
Businesses should consider keeping dispensers at all times in high-traffic areas such as in waiting rooms, near elevators, and in conference rooms and cafeterias,
Determine how to handle customers and visitors
Most businesses have a number of non-employees visit during a typical day. Vendors. Clients. Package delivery.
As businesses reopen, they should address how to handle third parties to minimize the risk of infections to their employees.
Many companies may go as far as to limit non-employees from entering their facilities. Meetings with clients and vendors may need to be limited to video calls.
Any rules you devise for visitors -- such as the requirement to wear masks — should be posted outside the premises and communicated to regular visitors.
Communicate all policy changes and new safety features
Most businesses will have to incorporate new guidelines to maintain safety. You will need to communicate these to all employees and frequent visitors to your place of business.
Create a comprehensive communication plan using all available venues to announce these changes. Send a series of emails. Post articles and videos on your intranet and social media outlets. Instruct managers to discuss the changes with their direct reports.
And don’t forget to update your employee handbook with any permanent operational and policy changes resulting from COVID-19.