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The most important thing we can all do is to remain calm and to follow the guidance provided. People who ignore it cause problems for everyone else. We should also follow the advice of recognised authorities, i.e. government bodies like the NHS or international authorities like the WHO. Guidance for working environments has been distilled from the Government guidance and tends to be specific to site. Let's take a closer look at it.
Lines of communication
At my workplace, I'm the Building Manager so I'm the first port of call for reporting diagnoses to so I can implement our protocols. The Property Manager is responsible for the various buildings in our region so I've got to report diagnoses, requests for deep cleans, etc., to him. He reports to the Operational Risk Management Team since ours is a multinational business. They provide the guidance to him to pass on to me to pass on to everyone else.
Every building needs an Emergency Plan, which should be kept up to date, particularly where contact changes are concerned. For most of us, this simply means reporting any incident to your line manager. They then report up the chain of command and follow the protocols laid down in the Emergency Plan.
Communication is essential; things that go wrong get infinitely worse when we don't keep our managers in the loop. This is the guidance we're using at work:
Suspected Coronavirus Cases
What you must do
- Advise your employees and visitors to inform you as soon as they become ill
- Report any suspected cases of Coronavirus (Covid-19) to the building management team as soon as you become aware of the suspected case
- Identify a location within your premises where the person may remain should a concern be raised
- Dial 111 or emergency services and seek advice
- Confirm the nature of the advice received to the building management team
- Keep the building management team up to date with the diagnosis of the person
- Advise of any further actions you are taking, considering medical and governmental advice at that time
- Arrange a deep clean of your premises as soon as possible. Confirm when the deep clean will be undertaken and if you need further assistance from the building management team to arrange this.
What the building management team will do
- Advise the Operational Risk Management Team of the suspected case who will advise upper management of the situation in the event the Emergency Plan procedures need to be initiated
- Liaise with the Landlord (where applicable) to advise of the situation
- Ensure other occupiers are kept up to date with the latest emergency medical and governmental advice
- Arrange a deep clean of the common areas (or entire building, depending on what responsibility arrangements are in place).
Confirmed Coronavirus Case
What the building management team will do
- Report confirmed case of Coronavirus (Covid-19) to building management team
- Confirm advice provided by emergency services to the affected person to the building management team
- Engage Emergency Plan Command Structure within the organisations of the various tenants as well as our own (where applicable)
What you must do
- Report confirmed case of Coronavirus (Covid-19) to building management team
- Confirm advice provided by emergency services to the affected person to the building management team
- Engage Emergency Plan Command Structure within your Organisation
What the building management team will do
- Escalate notification of the confirmed case to the Operational Risk Management Team, which will then seek advice from Public Health England and confirm if the building should be locked down
- Contact upper management and initiate Emergency Plan, then inform the Landlord (where applicable)
- Upper management will provide a statement to occupiers and staff confirming the situation and their plan to deal with it
- Close the building
- If the building is not to be locked down (based upon Public Health England advice) a deep clean will be undertaken
- Keep occupiers, all members of staff, and the Landlord (where applicable) updated via the Building’s Emergency Plan contact and command structure
- Reopen building upon confirmation from Public Health England
General Safety Precautions
In my building (and others controlled by my employers), we have tissue boxes and hand sanitisers stationed around the building. They're on the Reception desk as people enter the building. Since the coronavirus is surrounded by a lipid envelope, soap, which breaks down lipids (fats/oils), destroys it. So do hand sanitisers with an alcohol content of 60% or higher.
The personal guidance, which is posted on our toilet doors and in Reception, is to catch your cough in a tissue, bin the tissue at once, then wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, paying particular attention to the fingertips, or use the santiser provided. Try to avoid touching your face or eyes, or touching other people, e.g. shaking hands or high fiving.
The NHS guidelines include avoiding unwell people and self-isolating if you become unwell. I've advised people that my persistent cough is a post-nasal drip due to allergies; I've not been in contact with at-risk or unwell people and have no fever or sore throat myself. Mind you, I use public transport to get to work. For this reason I use Vicks First Defence as it may be of some help, though apparently the jury is out on how effective it is against the coronavirus. Since it makes my mucus glands work harder it increases the post nasal drip, but given a choice between (potentially) preventing myself from catching the coronavirus (and spreading it to my husband, a care worker) and a runnier nose, I'll take the runnier nose. Any improvement is better than none.
I'll update this post if more information comes in. Stay safe!
Image: Pixabay
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