Preventing and protecting against COVID-19 virus in the workplace

Preventing against covid-19 Cambridge office cleaning

Officially named COVID-19, the new Coronavirus disease has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. A fast spreading virus originating from Wuhan City in China, COVID-19 is having devastating effects on populations around the world and posing a significant challenge to many organisations based in the UK.

COVID-19 spreads where there is close contact between people. When a person carrying the virus exhales or coughs, droplets of infected fluid are released into the air and can cause infection when inhaled by another person. It is also possible to contract the virus by touching contaminated surfaces or objects. The majority of people contracting the virus will experience mild symptoms and recover quickly, others such as the more vulnerable with weakened immune systems or underlying health conditions may require hospital care.

Common symptoms of the COVID-19 virus are fever, tiredness, and a continuous dry cough. Other symptoms could include aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. Symptoms are often mild and begin gradually. Some people become infected but don’t develop any symptoms and don’t feel unwell. Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease without needing special treatment.

Follow these simple but effective ways to prevent and protect against the COVID-19 virus in your workplace.

  1. Ensure a clean and hygienic workplace by cleaning and disinfecting all work surfaces, objects and high touch points such as phones, handrails and light switches.
  2. Promote regular and thorough hand-washing using soap and water or a hand sanitiser;
    1. Arriving or departing the office or workplace
    2. After coughing or sneezing
    3. Before eating or handling food
  3. Provide sufficient alcohol-based hand sanitisers within the workplace
  4. Encourage the use of tissues when coughing or sneezing and ensure tissues are binned afterwards
  5. Encourage employees to work at home, wherever possible
  6. Encourage home working, wherever possible
  7. Cancellation any requests for workers to travel to locations the government has warned against visiting.

If a visitor suspected of carrying the virus enters the building or a member of staff should become contaminated, all surfaces that person has come into contact with must be cleaned including;

  • All surfaces and objects visibly contaminated with bodily fluids
  • All potentially contaminated high-contact areas such as toilets, door handles and telephones

In a shared office or workplace space, surfaces and objects should be cleaned using disposable cloths and detergents according to current workplace legislation and practices and using precautionary measures to protect cleaners.

Dispose of all waste that has been in contact with the individual, including tissues, and masks, in a sealed, plastic rubbish bag. This bag should then be placed in a second sealed bag and placed in a safe place and marked for storage until medical results surrounding the Coronavirus are made available. If results are negative, the bag can be disposed of as normal. Should the tests prove positive you are required to await further instructions from the public health authorities.

Contact Spotless for reactive and preventative deep cleaning services of infected and contaminated areas within the office and workplace.

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