Preparing your workplace for the new normal
How to make sure that your employees and customers stay safe
It’s been 3 months since the lockdown and social distancing measures were put into place in most countries across the world as almost everything was shut down to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Supermarkets and essential businesses implemented emergency temporary visual guidance using whatever they had such as hazard tape, duct tape and even chalk to help customers and employees keep the mandatory safe distance.
Many countries are beginning to enter a new phase of relaxing lockdown restrictions. The relaxing of these rules means that in many countries you can now visit a minimum number of persons who are not in your household, you can now exercise outside more than once a day, and businesses such as hairdressers, beauty salons, dentists and schools are being gradually opened again.
As more workplaces are beginning to open, we come to realise that this temporary way of living that we have become accustomed to, is going to be a much more permanent lifestyle. Businesses will have to implement more permanent and more durable solutions to maximise safety. But how do businesses ensure that people can go back to work and know that they are safe?
Ensuring Workspaces are Safe
In a previous article, linked here, we talked about the measures that businesses are taking to ensure that their employees and customers are safe.
These include:
1. Hand sanitizing stations throughout the workplace
Make sure your employees and customers are reminded with visual guides for hand sanitizing and handwashing in your store, with a Hand Sanitizing/Hand Washing mat.
2. Staggered breaks to limit contact between employees
3. Limiting the number of customers on your premises at any one time
4. Wearing of gloves and/or face masks
5. Temperature checks before entering
6. Making corridors, stairwells or aisles one way to limit contact
7. Making sure picking up and ordering points are clear
8. Changing workplace layouts to ensure social distancing
Here are some layout ideas to ensure your employees and customers maintain the correct social distancing requirements in order to work safely and comfortably.
An individual workstation layout in a store could look like:
A linear workstation layout, for example, behind a cash register:
All these measures will have to remain in place for the foreseeable future. Using hazard tape and duct was fine for a few weeks but this will now need to be replaced with a much more permanent and durable solution. There are many solutions you can use to implement more permanent and more visual social distance guidance such as using our Tough-Mark floor marking strips and utilising matting solutions.
Feel free to get in touch with us if you would like more information at [email protected].