5 Tips for Maintaining a Virus-Free Workplace

Tom Forsythe, executive vice president, Kyzen Corp., recommends all workers wear gloves and masks at all times to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the workplace. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images.)

Keeping employees safe and healthy are always concerns within the manufacturing cleaning industry, but especially during the coronavirus outbreak. Here, Tom Forsythe, executive vice president, Kyzen Corp., provides some suggested guidelines on how to be successful when doing so.

1. An employee spends much of his/her time not at work, so a lot of the responsibility for a healthy work environment falls on the employee. Manufacturers can help by providing personal protection equipment (PPE) not only on the job, but also for use when company staff is away from work. Also, ensure everyone is up to date on the latest recommendations for staying safe, which should include lots of hand washing.
2. Remember social distancing: no shaking hands and no back slapping. Ensure that gloves and masks are worn all the time. Where spacing is a challenge, plexiglass barriers are helpful in the manufacturing environment as well.
3. The lunch or break room has the potential to turn into a germ hotspot. Set up fewer tables and chairs, as well as encourage people to eat elsewhere in the building. Kyzen has started to provide lunch for its team to decrease the need to go outside of the facility.
4. Keeping workstations clean and safe, particularly in multi-shift operations, requires cleaning of surfaces between different users contacting those surfaces. Kyzen reviewed its library of technical information and circulated helpful and technical recommendations to employees, customers and others via social media.
5. Avoid unnecessary social encounters. This mostly entails not allowing visitors to the facility. Deliveries and pickups are essential, but can be executed thoughtfully.