It is essential to have a hygienic workplace for employees, customers, clients, and guests. This year, with the global pandemic, it is an absolute must. If proper hygiene standards are not enforced in your workplace, it can have devastating effects on the people who come into contact with your workplace and negatively affect your business in many other ways. Here’s what you can do starting today to make sure that as an employer, you are protecting yourself and the people you are responsible for, and creating a healthy and clean environment for them.
Empty the Trash
Any workplace is full of paper that needs to be discarded. If the trash is only paper, it wouldn’t be a huge problem, but unfortunately, a lot of garbage can be accumulated at work; food boxes and wrappers, half-eaten sandwiches, disposable coffee cups, and more. All this makes for a very unclean and unhealthy environment to be in.
Placing enough garbage bins around the workplace isn’t costly, but the important thing is to empty the trash every day. This can be done in the morning, but it’s best to do it before the office closes every night, especially in a hot and humid climate. It’s only logical to start a working morning with no trash surrounding you.
Sanitizers
It’s time to disperse hand sanitizers in more areas of the workplace. The first piece of advice everyone followed after the COVID-19 outbreak was to wash our hands several times a day. However, there probably aren’t too many bathrooms in a small or medium-sized workplace, or even in a large one. Plus, the bathrooms might be too far away to make regular trips to them for hand washing, so installing hand sanitizer dispensers will make it easier for people to keep their hands clean. We assume it’s going to become a good habit that many people will continue to practice. We recommend buying hand sanitizers at Valm. Also on site health solutions can be found here. Check out these upright micro scrubber.
Become HIPAA Compliant
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is regulated by the American Department of Health and Human Services and enforced by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The task of the OCR is to ensure a business’s compliance with HIPAA by providing regular advice on emerging issues concerning health care and reviewing specific breaches of HIPAA.
Via a set of interconnecting regulations, compliance with HIPAA ensures that organizations comply with and carry out certain requirements. An ideal workspace needs to prioritize healthcare concerns to preserve the confidentiality, welfare, and dignity of their employees and customers alike. To be fully compliant and credible in this respect, there are HIPAA exams available that allow you to take after completing full training courses. Plus, you get a certificate once you have successfully completed an exam.
Schedule a Cleaning
There are plenty of commercial cleaning services available, and you’ll probably find one near you. But at the end of the day, it’s your responsibility to keep your desk tidy and not contribute to making an office messy or unclean, but it’s not for you to clean the whole office. Professional cleaners from phs.co.uk will come in at a time that is convenient for you with their cleaning equipment. You can schedule a weekly, thorough cleaning and put your mind at rest.
Educate Employees
While employees are not solely responsible, when they know more about the importance of hygiene in the workplace and learn the proper employee hygiene practices, they will become more careful. Even if you still want to schedule a professional cleaning, you can do so less often if everyone does their share of keeping the office clean and tidy. Employees don’t have to do much to maintain office cleanliness, but they might not be aware of what to do, so giving some reminders won’t hurt.
Allow Enough Sick-Days
It’s no secret that people come into work not feeling their best when they should have stayed home, and end up spreading germs everywhere. As a business owner, you are not doing yourself any favors by not taking your workers’ sick days seriously. A day of rest can help an ill employee recover much quicker from ailments, such as a common cold. It will also ensure that you don’t get more workers sick and, inevitably, have to approve more sick-days.
Address Problems Quickly
Anyone noticing someone doing something unhygienic can advise that person in the correct way. If that doesn’t work and it is a continuous problem or one that has gotten out of hand, report it to your boss. Any boss must address such issues promptly and not put them on the back burner.
We spend most of our lives in the workplace. It’s only fair that we work in a clean, healthy environment. There are things you can do to take personal responsibility and keep your workplace hygienic. All businesses, big and small, can learn how to comply with health standards to protect others and their business.