Work in the Time of Influenza

Personal Hygiene
Handwashing is the most effective way to break the chain of infection, as it decreases the number of disease-causing organisms living on the skin. Make sure your office washroom is well-stocked with soap and paper towels. It couldn’t hurt to put up a sign reminding people that handwashing will reduce the spread of viruses.

Scrubbing with soap and warm water is ideal, but a waterless hand sanitizer made with at least 60% alcohol is a good alternative if the hands are not visibly dirty. Keeping a bottle of sanitizer at each desk – or at least at the reception desk – reminds people of the necessity of cleanliness.

Common sense tells us to throw tissues away after each use, to cough or sneeze into the crook of the elbow when a tissue isn’t available and to turn away from others when covering a cough. We should also avoid contact between fingers and the eyes, nose and mouth.

Office Hygiene
Surfaces and items that are commonly touched by clients and visitors to your office should be disinfected daily: a bell on the front desk, the buzzer on the intercom system, the light switch in the washroom. If a janitorial company cleans the office, consider increasing the frequency and depth of service.

There are items in all offices that are communal – the photocopier, the coffee pot, etc. These surfaces should also be wiped down regularly. But not everything needs to be shared. Make sure employees each have their own pens, staplers, calculators and other supplies. If possible, discourage workers from sharing phones, desks, cash registers or keyboards or encourage employees to wipe them off for the next user. And, although it may be an unpopular move, remove the jelly-bean jar from the front desk or the dish of chocolate almonds from the conference room.

Individual Protective Measures
Employers should promote H1N1 vaccination throughout the workplace, giving time off for staff to visit clinics to get shots. If possible, arrange for in-house immunizations.

Some people may wonder whether they should wear gloves or masks to work. According to the Best Practice Guideline, only those in jobs that are at high risk of exposure to the virus will require extra protection. Respirators or surgical masks, gowns, gloves and eye protection are appropriate protective measures only for health-care workers and hospital staff who have direct contact with infected individuals.

The same applies for those whose business takes them abroad. That said, the Public Health Agency of Canada offers health news and international travel advisories. Follow its suggestions, even if it might mean missing a convention or trade show.

Keep the Healthy Healthy
Pandemic influenza, like seasonal flu and many other illnesses, is most likely to infect those with compromised immune systems or pre-existing medical conditions, older workers and pregnant women. It may be possible, and smart, to move higher-risk employees to positions (or physical locations) within your organization that involve less exposure to viruses.

There are also countless ways employers can encourage employees to boost their own immune systems. Physical fitness, healthy eating, adequate rest and stress reduction all contribute to a worker’s well-being. Consider offering memberships to nearby health clubs, holding lunchtime yoga classes, serving fruit and veggie trays instead of doughnuts at meetings and not demanding overtime as ways to increase general health and reduce absenteeism.

Keep the Sick at Home
It is crucial that people who feel ill stay out of the office until their symptoms have completely disappeared. This might mean an employee is absent for a week or more. Whether that person is upper management or a shift worker doesn’t matter. A plan to have an individual’s workload covered by another employee may be possible, but it might increase stress on healthy employees. Companies should have back-up plans involving temporary workers, splitting responsibilities and possibly reducing production or extending deadlines.

Keeping panic out of the workplace can be just as important as keeping nasty viruses away. Yes, H1N1 is a real threat to staff, and therefore to your business. Whether the threat will translate into significant absenteeism is impossible to predict, but not impossible to plan for. Smart employers are analyzing risk and taking reasonable steps now to communicate and minimize that risk. They know that the health of both their workers and the bottom line depend on it.

Current Issue