Hygiene Best Practice For A Safe Working Environment

The advent of the Coronavirus has scared many of us into social distancing, working at home, and panic buying. The good news is that by taking a common sense approach to hygiene, we can stay open for business without endangering anyone.

There three areas of concern where hygiene is concerned: contact, proximity, and information. Let's take a closer look at how to limit the likelihood of spreading the Coronavirus.

Contact

The main thing we're being told to do is social distancing and washing our hands. Since the Coronavirus has a long incubation period (up to four weeks), it's no use waiting until symptoms appear before you do something about it; you could seem perfectly healthy and be spreading it around. Obviously, anyone who has in a high risk area or has had contact with an infected person needs to self-isolate to keep the rest of us safe.

The advice provided is to clean all the things that are either touching or being touched. This means hands (of course!) but also phones, chairs, computer keyboards, screens, mice, desks, and other items on the desktop (bin if not in use). These must be cleaned with products with anti-viral properties in order to ensure the virus is killed. Lift buttons, door handles, and stair rails must also be cleaned regularly, preferably every hour or so. Basically, anything people touch on a regular basis must be kept clean.

Proximity

People sitting close to others, e.g. on a helpdesk, may unwittingly pick up the virus on their clothes. Best practice consultants Sitemark are advising firms to encourage their workers to stop wearing scarves and ties and to lock off blinds, since these items aren't cleaned very often. They haven't mentioned coats and jackets, which are more likely to pick these things up and which are more rarely washed. If you share a coat rack, it is possible, however slightly, that you might pick it up while travelling in a crowded bus or train. Wiping those jackets you can't toss into the washing machine with an antiseptic antiviral solution may well assist with the reduction of risk. Meanwhile, washing jackets and coats more frequently (where possible) is advisable.

Commuting via public transport is a major risk factor. You're cooped up in a metal bubble with people who might possibly have the Coronavirus and due to the long incubation period there's no way of telling. Limiting proximity and contact where possible is advisable.

Limiting entry and exit may have some hygiene benefits but I'd be concerned about fire safety.

Information

It is up to each individual to keep themselves informed about the latest health and hygiene advice. That said, there's a lot of misinformation floating about, some of which appears to be emanating from our own Government. The concept of herd immunity must not be confused with the erroneous idea that if we catch the Coronavirus, we become immune to it and this provides immunity to The Herd by default. That's not how it works. Besides, viruses mutate and there are two recognised strains of this already. The smarter thing to do is prevent spread as much as possible to contain the virus, which will then die off due to lack of hosts. It's what we did with SARS. Swine flu became less of a threat due to mass vaccination and resistance.

The most reliable sources of information on the Coronavirus are the NHS and the WHO. Opinion blogs and news sites, if they're not quoting from a national health resource, should not be the first port of call.

Pandemics do come to an end, we just need to follow the advice and stay safe until this one does.