How to Keep Your Business Safe After Opening
Last time on the BIOClean Team blog we talked about the necessary steps and precautions to take in order to reopen your business amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. With many state and local governments beginning the process of reopening and adjusting to the new normal, it’s important to consider not just how to reopen but how to do it right. This time on the blog, what critical steps your business can take to keep everyone safe.
Keeping The Business (and Employees and Customers) Safe
Proper Precautions
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as the saying goes. If you read our last blog you likely already know some of the necessary precautions to take to keep people safe, but it bears repeating.
To keep everyone safe, promote the correct, increased healthy hygiene standards. Require face masks, install plastic guards to protect customers and employees where necessary. Train staff on the new safety protocols, in this case, ignorance is not bliss!
Continued Monitoring
With the proper precautions in place, work is resuming. Now it moves to the monitoring and maintenance phase.
Some businesses are implementing monitoring measures like checking temperatures of anyone entering the building. These efforts may seem excessive but they were effectively used elsewhere in flattening the curve, and if the business has the means to do so (and knows how to effectively store the information gathered etc.) it may be one worth considering.
Other measures to take:
- Encourage employees who are sick to stay home
It doesn’t matter what they are sick with, employees shouldn’t be coming in to work ill. The stress it can cause alone is enough to disrupt an otherwise safe workplace.
- Plan for when an employee gets sick
People will be sick. Have an understood plan of what actions to take and when to ensure that the employee is safe, and the rest of the office is protected from possible exposure.
- Have flexible leave policies and practices
While encouraging employees to stay home when ill, it might do little good if employees don’t have a flexible absence and sick day policy in place during this time. Be open and clear with employees about the nature of sick days and leave policies to ensure no one risks anyone else’s health.
- Regularly communicate with local authorities and employees
Stay on top of the changing regulations and recommendations. Communicate those with employees to ensure everyone understands the situation.
- Be ready to close if there are increased cases
The most important part of monitoring is being ready to take the necessary actions when monitoring and cleaning aren’t working, or there is an increase in cases. Have a plan in place, decide on triggers that will start that plan, and act when the need arises. Ensure employees understand the plan.
Create and Implement Higher Standards of Cleaning
Normal routine cleaning with soap and water will decrease how much of the virus is on surfaces and objects, which reduces the risk of exposure. But you can do more! The EPA has approved a number of disinfectants to be used against COVID-19 and reduce the risk. It’s not enough to take a one and done approach, frequent disinfection of surfaces and objects touched by multiple people is crucial.
If you do not have access to any EPA-approved disinfectants (call us!) you can use a mix of a third cup bleach to a gallon of water. DO NOT mix bleach or other cleaning products together, they can cause hazardous fumes that are incredibly dangerous.
Full CDC Cleaning Recommendations Can Be Found Here.
Continuously keeping a sanitized workspace is critical. If one person gets sick and brings the virus into work, it is immediately risky for everyone else. Up your sanitization strategy, and if you need the extra assistance, give The BIOClean Team a call! We are happy to help and trained to do it all, safely.
As always, The BIOClean Team is committed to being here for you when you need us the most. We are actively deploying teams to combat COVID-19 and offering large and small-scale disinfection in addition to all other standard services.
We follow the most up to date safety measures and precautions, employ an environmental hygienist to update our protocols, every team member is a certified professional following infection control measures, and the team is led by an RN with specific microbiology and virology knowledge.