Crisis management, Occupational Safety

Important coronavirus rules for your office

Here’s how to get your company ready: preventing infection in the workplace during COVID-19

3 minutes02/17/2021

Avoiding physical contact with others is key during the COVID-19 pandemic. ISO 45005, a new international standard published in December 2020, recommends that organizations enable their workers to work from home wherever possible. But not every employee can handle 100% of their tasks from home. So, companies have to set up preventative measures and safeguards to make working in the office as safe as possible for their employees. If these actions are well prepared and comprehensive, employees will not only feel safer at the workspace, but it will also strengthen their trust in company leadership.

It is therefore not only worthwhile for preventative health reasons that you anticipate changing situations in a timely manner, adjust how work is conducted at the office accordingly and regularly communicate the right rules for workplace safety.

Working safely from the office during COVID-19

  • Maintain good hygiene in the workplace

  • Keep your 1,5m distance from other people

  • Instruct cleaning staff to regularly disinfect surfaces such as door handles, staircase handrails or counters

  • Use stairs instead of elevators when possible

  • Refrain from preparing meals in communal kitchens

  • Wash the dishes/put them in the dishwasher immediately after using

  • Do not put drinks in the refrigerator in the communal kitchens

Preparations and actions for your office

What preparations are needed? What does a healthy work place look like?  These questions are all answered in our infographic: “Guidance to working in the office - Getting your company ready to work safely during the COVID-19 pandemic”

Download the infographic as PDF-file!

Stay healthy, stay home: Home office for your employees

Even though many employers are continuing to keep their office spaces open, working from home remains an integral part of safe working life during the coronavirus pandemic. Ensure that you protect your employees from physical and mental stress and promote productivity and motivation even when working from home. A software for occupational health and safety can be a great help in systematically protecting your employees.

Good to know:

Just like when they are working at the office, employers have a duty to care for their employees in home office. Employers who express their concerns for their employees’ wellbeing and initiate appropriate actions to promote it will find themselves winning a lot of trust, employee loyalty and a stable safety culture.

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