Preparing Your Office for Swine Flu

Earlier this month, I sat in on a webinar geared towards protecting employees from swine flu. The swine flu virus, or the H1N1 virus, is a highly contagious flu that is expected to affect roughly 2x the number of people that the seasonal flu affects annually. This means extra precautions are being taken all around the country as companies face the very real danger of having an entire staff fall ill, or customers that are too sick to visit their stores and offices.

Our office is working to be as proactive as possible, and we are following the guidelines below in a company wide response to swine flu.

1. Sick employees are required to stay home, or go home early if symptoms appear while they are at work.
One of the problems with H1N1 is that the incubation period is brief, and symptoms occur rapidly after the virus has been contracted. Because the virus is so contagious, any employee showing flu-like symptoms is required to go home and stay home until symptoms are gone for a full 24 hours.

2. All surfaces are cleaned with a sanitizing solution at close.
Because the Swine Flu virus can remain active for a period of up to 8 hours on a surface touched by an infected person we are sanitizing doorknobs, phones, desktops, keyboards and any other surface that is repeatedly touched. By sanitizing at close, it is easy to keep track of what has been sanitized and allows the office to breathe overnight so that employees are not working with the smell of cleaning solution all day.

3. All major office functions are being prepared so that they can be completed remotely.
Working in a small office, it is possible that the entire staff may be sick at the same time making it impossible for the office to be open for regular hours. Working to make sure that each employee has a working laptop with access to essential files and contacts makes it possible for crucial tasks to be completed from home.

4. Borrowing the 20/20 rule.
In many restaurants, it is required for employees to wash their hands thoroughly for 20 seconds every 20 minutes to prevent food borne illnesses. This rule also prevents the spread of highly contagious illnesses by preventing bacteria and viruses from staying on exposed skin and being transferred to other surfaces or people. Adopting this rule for the office also helps prevent the spread of illness.

5. Use of hand sanitizer.
Encouraging the use of hand sanitizer after the handling of money, opening mail, receiving packages and shaking hands with others during business meetings also helps to prevent the spread of disease. It does not replace the need for regular hand washing, but rather supplements it by providing an easy way to sanitize when not near a sink or hand soap.

6. Get vaccinated.
Even though the H1N1 vaccine is not currently available to everyone, getting vaccinated for the seasonal flu will help to prevent employees from contracting both flu's this fall and winter. When the H1N1 vaccine does become available, those who have not contracted or been exposed to the virus are all encouraged to get the two-part vaccine in addition to the seasonal flu vaccine in an effort to avoid both strains.

By following these 6 important steps, our office hopes to reduce the risk of contracting the Swine Flu as well as preventing it from being spread to other departments, customers and vendors. Being prepared for H1N1 will help us to make sure that important functions are completed even if we all fall ill simultaneously which makes us and our customers to feel better about the threat of illness.

Want to read more like this? Check out these other articles by Denise Kawaii:

Alternative Natural Remedies for Seasonal Affective Disorder
Tips for Returning to Work After Maternity Leave
Food Poisoning Facts and Myths
Ten Things that Will Keep You from Losing Ten Pounds