Tips to Prevent Spreading Disease in Office

Working in close quarters like shared office cubicles and frequently touching common surfaces like copier machine controls and drink disperser machines is the prime activity for the spread of germs, bacteria, and illnesses in office.  Disease in office workers can be reduced or eliminated by the company’s management taking some commonsense approaches to cleanliness and enacting policies that encourage workers who are ill to follow guidelines that can prevent the spread of disease.

Actions to Prevent Spreading Disease

Encourage workers to practice good hygiene at work.  Every restaurant has a sign to encourage workers handling food to wash their hands before returning to work.  Washing hands at work are just as important for non-restaurant workers. Signs should be posted in lavatories to wash hands using hot water and soap for twenty or thirty seconds. There should also be antiseptic gel dispensers at the exit door of washrooms to give that person who forgoes a water wash the opportunity to disinfect their hands.

Keep it Clean

Employees should be encouraged to wipe down their personal frequently touched surfaces such as computer keyboards and telephones.  Ample supplies of disposable germicidal tissues should be part of the standard equipment to be found in office supplies and distributed to all employees.  Disposable tissues should also be readily available in ample supplies in the office supplies.

Keeping Distance

Greetings protocols can be revised to let employees know that it’s okay to grasp the forearm of a colleague or client rather than their hand.  Employees should be encouraged to cough into their shoulder or crook of the elbow instead of their hands. Employees should be encouraged to stay home when coughing or running a fever.

Safer Environment

Cleaning staffs should be instructed to disinfect common areas such as refrigerator and microwave door handles.  Foods in office refrigerators should be thrown out of weekly and refrigerators sprayed with a disinfecting spray to kill staph, mold, and mildew.

Building Concern

Offices tend to have closed air circulating systems and windows that don’t open for security reasons. This closed environment is ripe for breeding and the spread of germs in the office.  Companies can have their air filters changed frequently and their ducts professionally cleaned annually.

Get Flu Shot

Companies can organize and coordinate flu shots for high-risk groups in the company such as pregnant women and parents of small children.   Conducting company blood drives not only helps the local supply of needed blood and plasma but also signals to employees that the company takes health and well being serious.