Back to Work Solutions – getting people back to work safely

As we progress through the government’s ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown in England, businesses are preparing for a safe return to the office. Have you taken all the necessary precautions to protect your staff and visitors to your buildings?

To make life easier, workplace expert DURABLE have put together some tips for preparing your sites for the return of the workforce and highlighted solutions to help you achieve this.

Hands, Face, space continues to be the public health campaign across England and the UK, so the first step to achieve this is to provide sanitising stations.

Washing and sanitising hands regularly and thoroughly is really important, especially when people are working in close proximity and using the same shared spaces.

Placing hand sanitiser in entrances, communal areas and around shared desk spaces where several people are active can help prevent the spread of germs.

Disinfectant dispensers with signs provide a constant reminder about good hygiene practices, and ideally choose a dispenser with a lever arm, which can be used more hygienically with forearms and elbows.

Face coverings are also essential to keep staff and visitors safe and are now mandatory in many public buildings and spaces. Many people are looking forward to spending some time in the office with their colleagues in order to have those valuable face-to-face conversations or quick corridor catch ups.

To encourage safe interaction between staff, ensure everyone is wearing a face mask.

Transparent face shields are an alternative where it is important to show facial expressions or useful to speak more freely. Choose a CE certified Face Visor to ensure it meets safety regulations.

Creating space is easy using floor markings and professional signage. Placing markings on the floor helps people to judge distances more accurately and enables visitors to follow a one-way system if you have one in place.

Markings can also be placed on chairs to highlight that they are not in use (for this choose a removable marking which can be easily removed at a later date).

Wall and floor-standing signage is also really important. It is true when they say a picture says more than a thousand words. It takes just 0.15 seconds for our brains to decide whether what we see is relevant. So straightforward and professional signage delivers important safety messages across clearly. For example, define a maximum number of people permitted in each room and hang a sign at the door indicating this number.

Choose signage which is easy to install and reposition if needed.

Are you ready to reopen? Help people get back to work safely and download the DURABLE Back to Work Checklist for free at www.durablefmj.co.uk

-ends-