OSHA COVID Guidelines: How to Prepare Workplaces in 2021 for Safety

Employee health is an essential concern for employers in all industries after everyone's battle against COVID-19 throughout most of 2020. Employers faced challenging decisions to put employee safety first and comply with the OSHA workplace safety regulations and will need to continue that course into 2021. 

OSHA keeps up with all the latest updates on the novel coronavirus, then updates its standards and directives accordingly, making all relative safe work practices readily available. Since employers everywhere have found themselves operating in uncharted waters, the organization's monitoring of the pandemic and its effects on the public has proven invaluable.

Employers Have More Work to Do to Prepare Workplaces in 2021 for Safety

While the coronavirus vaccine is becoming increasingly available, it requires a second dose to ensure efficacy, so it will take time to see how much it helps everyone stay safe. In the meantime, new cases develop daily worldwide, so everyone needs to maintain COVID-related workplace safety culture for employee wellbeing until there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Let's take a look at workplace safety tips to prepare for 2021.

Understand the Essential Role of Businesses and Employers in Response to COVID-19

Some people were naturally able to stay home during lockdowns, such as retirees, freelancers, and students, but work is another matter. Businesses have core functions to perform, and employees need to earn a living. While many employers were encouraged to send much of their workforce home to work remotely, that was not always possible. Some types of businesses require employees to arrive at the workplace daily, or at least intermittently, including:

• Healthcare
• Emergency workers like police and firefighters
• Manufacturing
• Shipping
• Grocery stores
• Transportation services
• Foodservice

Regardless of the business, employers have the ability to prevent and slow the spread of the coronavirus. By understanding COVID at every phase, employers can help keep employees and customers safe.

Keep Up with the Latest COVID-19 Updates

COVID-19 has served up plenty of twists and turns over the past year, so it is crucial for employers to keep up with all the latest news and updates on the coronavirus. There are several trusted sources available on the subject that keep everyone posted on the medical, national, and local levels: 

• OSHA
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• The World Health Organization (WHO)
• The White House
• State, city, and county government resources for local data and resources

By keeping up with the latest information from these resources, employers can confidently maintain workplace safety for employees for the duration of the pandemic. 

Create and Foster a Workplace Safety Culture

Make sure that employees know that their safety is vital and that they should feel the same way for themselves, co-workers, and management. Monitor updates regarding COVID-19 from trusted resources and make them readily available and highly visible to employees with:

• Posters throughout the office
• Notes on bulletin boards
• Companywide emails
• Text alerts
• The company website

Encourage employees to identify hazards, such as the lack of hand sanitizer at appointed stations, to ensure the right person restocks. Despite the risks of the coronavirus, it is the ideal time to foster a healthier corporate culture through concern for one another. One way to help build this special camaraderie is by providing employee recognition for above-and-beyond efforts to keep employees safe during this difficult time. 

Prepare the Workplace

COVID-19 makes it imperative to prepare the workplace for peak safety. Assign a coronavirus safety management leader and form a larger team to assist that person in keeping up with all safety protocols and putting them in place, then following through regularly. The team should work together to develop a list of safety procedures, including:

• Identifying areas with the highest risk for spreading infection and working together to find ways to reduce that risk.
• Determine how to create proper social distancing space or provide safety dividers in shared workspaces.
• Analyze entry and exit areas to make sure there is plenty of space to maintain social distance.
• Assess the reception area to ensure there is enough space for safe, contactless delivery from postal, courier, and shipping deliveries.
• Review the overall office area to accommodate mandated social distance guidelines.
• Discuss lunch and break matters, such as social distancing in the cafeteria or break room and staggering breaks and lunchtimes.
• Consider arranging schedules to alternate in-office times for employees.

Reduce the Potential Risks for Person-to-Person Infection

In addition to the preparations, it is important to carry out ongoing measures to ensure employee safety since people are the primary source of the spread of infection. There are several ways employers can help identify possible infection as early as possible:

• Use a contactless thermometer to take employees' temperatures upon entry to the building, and send them home if they have an elevated temperature.
• Ask sick employees to stay home.
• Provide clear signage to handwashing and hand sanitizing stations, cutting a path to each one following social distancing requirements.
• Require masks for any face-to-face encounters or when employees are away from their workstations.
• Use mobile credentials to enter the building and other doors instead of manual keypads.
• Remove fabric-based furniture that is more difficult to clean, opting for hard surfaces instead.

Keep Everything Sanitized

In addition to person-to-person transmission, people can contract COVID-19 through surface contact. If someone touches their face multiple times a day and has the coronavirus, then they touch a countertop, it puts everyone else at risk. Fortunately, there is plenty of information on creating a sanitization strategy, such as using a disinfectant with at least 60% alcohol, regularly cleaning high-traffic points like doorknobs and elevator buttons, and handrails, and removing shared kitchen items like mugs.

C.A. Short Can Help Keep Your Team Motivated for Safety in 2021

Your employees might already feel coronavirus fatigue after a year of combating it, but everyone needs to soldier on in the fight for employee wellbeing. We can help you encourage your employees to stay positive and healthy in 2021. Give us a call at 800-535-5690, request a complimentary consultation, or launch a chat session, so we can talk about ways to keep your employees encouraged and motivated.