These last few weeks, we have talked about some reflections that the pandemic has left us in the work environment as well as some recommendations for workplace safety. Perhaps, one of the biggest concerns that employers have right now is the possibility of having an employee testing positive for COVID-19. This is a complex situation that will require a quick response and a lot of empathy.
Kwema provides a quick response to overcome COVID-19 challenges at the workplace.
We have prepared this blog with some key considerations in the case you need to approach a situation like this. This information is based on the CDC General Business FAQ page.
Act immediately
If an employee arrives at work presenting COVID-19 symptoms, he/she must be separated from the rest of employees, customers and visitors should be sent home immediately. Encourage sick employees to stay at home and follow the CDC recommendations continually. They will not return to work until a health provider and the local or state health department considers interrupting home isolation.
Protect other employees
Avoid the virus spread by identifying the people and the areas in your workplace that were in contact with sick employees. You should immediately inform all employees, customers and visitors of their possible exposure and encourage them to follow health public recommendations. As a prevention measure, it is important that employers send employees who were at a higher exposition of contracting the virus home and allow them to return to work — if they don’t have symptoms — after 14 days. Additionally, employers have to monitor all other employees for symptoms such as fever, cough or difficult breathing.
Keep your workplace safe
Based on the potential risk of coronavirus exposure and the size of the workplace, employers have to consider what kind of changes and measures must be implemented. Most common health recommendations for workplaces include cleaning and disinfecting practices, developing policies for worker safety protection, training and making adjustments in the work schedule. If you are considering performing some of these practices, we recommend you to read more details in our blog How to prepare your workplace for the reopening.
Continue your business operations
There are many strategies employers can follow in order to avoid large gatherings in the workplaces and maintain their business operations in the best and healthy possible way. Allowing flexible hours, working remotely, changing the way products and services are delivered and increasing physical space between employees and customers are some examples.
Be prepared
In order to prevent your employees from getting sick and spreading the virus in the workplace, encourage them to stay at home if they have cough, fever, difficult breathing and symptoms related with COVID-19 as well as notify you immediately. Also, you can consider implementing personal health-checks before they enter into the facilities. In due to do so, follow the procedures and recommendations of state and public local health authorities. Remember that personal health-checks must be conducted safely and respectfully. Moreover, identify the potential hazards related with coronavirus exposition and determine the necessary controls and protection equipment according to the business activity.
As you know, workplaces can become potential places with higher levels of COVID-19 transmissions, especially if employees perform activities in a closed environment where people are in close contact for a long period of time.
The best measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus at your workplace is identifying COVID-19 cases and any person who was in contact with them as soon as possible.
With Kwema’s Smart Badge for Contact Tracing & Emergency Alerts, your employees follow a seamless checkpoint system to check in high-traffic areas like the cafeterias, conference rooms, major hallways and entrances.
When somebody is diagnosed positive for COVID-19 using GDPR Guidelines Kwema allows you to do three key things:
- Trace WHERE the employee was
- Identify WHO they may have come into contact with
- Classify all employees into 3 RISK GROUPS and take action to prevent spread
Contact us for a Free Assessment on how likely your employees are to adopt new safety measures for COVID-19 by sending an email to: covid19@kwema.co
Watch how Kwema is disrupting workplace safety
Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels
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