The #1 priority for American companies right now is to ensure the future of their business with a safe reopening plan. With surges in cases all over the country this summer it has become evident that without a vaccine the virus is unlikely to simply disappear. However, after half a year of studying the virus, we do know some effective ways to mitigate its spread:
- Wearing a mask
- Social distancing
- Proper ventilation
- Frequent Testing
- Hand-washing
Hearing these suggestions on TV and at work sounds like a broken record, and despite their efficacy organizations across the United States continue to face major problems with outbreaks that threaten their employees’ health and the future of their business operations. Why is this?
Think of your company’s Covid response plan as an immune system. Like the body’s skin, the aforementioned measures can prevent the onset of an outbreak by not letting the virus enter the workplace. However, they do little to help control and eliminate it if it does enter. They do not tell us vital pieces of information such as how long an employee had the virus, who it may have spread to, and what to do if an employee contracts it. Once a disease enters the body, the skin does nothing to fight it.
Instead, when a disease enters the body its white blood cells begin to take over, attacking the disease at the source and preventing it from spreading throughout. The white blood cells of an organization’s Covid-19 response plan are the tracking mechanisms and operating procedures that help locate the virus as soon as it enters the body, and attack it by knowing exactly where it moved and how to kill it. This article is all about making sure your organization has the white blood cells necessary to locate and attack the virus once it enters. Companies that rely only on their “skin” to keep them safe do not win against Covid-19. Instead, if companies want to thrive in the short term they need to identify the “white blood cells” of their response plan.
Locating the virus requires two things: collecting regular employee health data and having a team that monitors that data. Frequent testing can achieve this, but can it be slow and expensive. Here are 3 other things companies can be doing to locate the virus as early as possible.
- Symptom Questionnaires – provide a daily questionnaire that requires each employee to rate relevant symptoms such as a sore throat, fever, coughing, fatigue, and muscle pain on a scale of 1-10. Google Forms and Survey Monkey are two easy and effective tools for developing these questionnaires. Other organizations such as Tufts University have created their own mobile application to accomplish this as well.
- Temperature Checks – non-contact thermometers are a good one-time investment that help track one of the most certain symptoms of Covid-19. Handheld versions of these thermometers can be bought at Walmart for under $30. Daily temperature checks should be part of any basic checklist today for going back to work.
- Pulse Oximeters – pulse oximeters are a lesser known tool effective in detecting Covid-19. Pulse oximeters measure somebody’s Oxygen saturation (SpO2). Traditionally, pulse oximeters have been used in ICUs to monitor oxygen intakes among people with lung disease. However, because of the respiratory problems Covid presents, oximeters are being used as a tool to detect its onset. Testing with wireless pulse oximeters is easy. The device attaches to your finger like a chip clip and gives a reading within 10 seconds. Generally, a healthy SPO2 level is above 95%. Anything less than 90% it is recommended that one sees a doctor. Wireless pulse oximeters can be found on Amazon for around $30. You can learn more about them here.
- Create a Covid-19 Tracking and Response Team – collecting this data is for naught if nobody monitors it. Having designated personnel at your company to collect and track the data and create thresholds to mandate which employees are sent home or recommended to a testing site/hospital is vital for ensuring company safety.
Attacking the virus is about the resources allocated to a response team and the procedures that team follows to protect the workplace from further damage. Having comprehensive operating procedures for this team is vital for any response plan’s success. Here are some things to consider when putting this team together.
- External Resource Directory – when people get sick they must be attended to as fast as possible. Have a list of nearby testing sites and hospitals on hand to make sure employees get tested or attended to ASAP.
- Create a Budget – having a team will cost money because workers need to get paid. Furthermore, this team must be equipped with the right tools such as those mentioned in the prior section, sanitation materials, masks, and some additional spending money for other tools they deem necessary such as plug-in air-filters.
- Reactionary Procedures – if someone tests positive a lot of things must happen. How long should the person stays home? Can the person execute their work from home? If not, who picks up their hours? What happens to people that person came in contact with in the past x number of days? All of these are important questions to have answered and standardized throughout the company in order to keep the company safe.
If you want an objective assessment of your current processes, just connect with us, and we can discuss ideas and provide you a few options.