As the national government has declared a state of public health emergency due to COVID-19 outbreak, business owners are starting to feel its impact – getting concerned about the welfare of their employees and their business itself. 

From sanitizing building premises to working from home, there are some preventive measures that can be practiced to reduce the risk and impact of COVID-19 to your business.

1. Postpone massive gatherings or event
If you’re organizing an event that requires a huge crowd, it’s best to move it to a later date once the outbreak has subsided. Health and safety for the participants and your employees should be your top priority.

2. Cancel business trips
As travel bans continue to be implemented, it’s highly recommended to cancel your business trip especially if it’s abroad. A 14-day home quarantine should also be implemented for someone who travels outside the country. There should always be transparency about your team’s travel history or upcoming travel plans to ensure health and safety of everyone else.

3. Implement work from home policies
If your employee is experiencing dry cough, colds or fever, consider implementing work-from-home set up for health and safety. Take advantage of digital tools to ensure productivity for remote work of your team. Your team can still conduct virtual meetings utilizing video conference through using Skype or Zoom. For real-time communication, you can also use Google Chat, Whatsapp or Slack.

For a company-wide announcement, you can post through a discussion post on your company’s GlobalLinker account where your team members or your employees within the company can only see it. You can also maximize the eBriefcase tool for sharing of files. If you prefer to use it on mobile, you can download its app version here.

4. Conduct a building sanitization
Although hand sanitizers or alcohols are available in your office, it’s still recommended to do full sanitization to make sure that your building or office is safe for people to work on it. If you’re worried about shut down operations, you can implement a remote policy while doing full sanitization.

Basic protective measures against Coronavirus

Wash your hands frequently

Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands.

Maintain social distancing

Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing. It has been advised that instead of shaking hands, the traditional ‘namaste’ is the safer form of greeting.

When someone coughs or sneezes they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.

Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth

Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth. From there, the virus can enter your body and can make you sick.

Practice respiratory hygiene

Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately.

If you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical care early

Stay home if you feel unwell. If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the directions of your local health authority.

Image source: shutterstock.com