It is impossible to avoid 100% of infections, but it is possible to avoid infection among employees by maintaining an order of arrival at the office and encouraging employees to maintain good hygiene practices and use masks.

In our last post we discussed 5 strategies for employees' safe return to the office and explained how we can avoid infection in the office. But what happens when employees return?

One of HR's most difficult tasks is safeguarding employee health, so here are some tips to avoid widespread transmission in your office.

Have antibacterial soap, hand sanitizer, and disposable masks available.

Having these products available to employees at all times is part of our obligation as managers. Hand soap is usually available in offices, but not all companies ensured that it was antibacterial.

These products must be available to employees and must meet the necessary quality standards to avoid infection.

These standards are detailed below:

• Hand soap: Hand soap must be 99.9% antibacterial. Remember that brands can't put this on the label if it's not true, so soap labeled as such probably meets this requirement. If it doesn't, check the specifications carefully, as it may not be as effective.

• Hand sanitizer: According to the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the US, hand sanitizer must contain at least 60% alcohol to be effective.

• Masks: Although cloth masks can be used, the they should be changed regularly. Employees may also forget them at home. It is best to have a plan B so that the employee can enter the office in case of an unforeseen event. The best masks are N95, N99, and N100, but these are expensive. According to the CDC, surgical masks are best in these cases.
  

Remember also to take employees' temperature before they come into the office. Many COVID-19 cases have been asymptomatic except for fever.

Maintain a distance of at least 1.8 meters between employees

Distance is the easiest and least expensive way to reduce the risk of human-to-human transmission. According to health authorities, it only takes 15 minutes at a distance of less than 1.5 meters to be at risk of infection. 

Consider changing employees' locations in the office to better distribute the space between them. In the case of companies with more than 100 employees, consider using a system to reserve and assign spaces to improve office organization and ensure compliance with social distancing. 

Tools such as Workplace have hardware that can recognize the most crowded areas and trace contacts in case of infection. Worplace also allows you to assign and reserve workspaces, giving you greater control over the use of office space.

Conduct daily health questionnaires

It can be a bit tedious for employees, but keeping a log of their symptoms allows you to detect the sources of infection more quickly.

Make sure these health questionnaires have basic questions about COVID-19 symptoms. They should be easy to answer and take no more than 2 minutes to complete. 

Some of the questions could be: 

1. Have you had a fever in the last few days?
2. Have you had a runny nose?
3. Have you lost your sense of smell in the last few days?
4. Have you lost your taste in the last few days?
5. Do you have a dry cough?
6. Have you been feeling more tired than usual?
   

Remember to ask if they have been in direct contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

These are some essential measures to avoid transmission in the office. Remember that remote work is the best option to protect employees from possible infection.