14th August 2020

5 Key things to consider when opening your office post COVID

Every work place is different, but here are 5 key things to consider when opening your office.

Photo by Nastuh Abootalebi on Unsplash

Rules

You must ensure that workers and other people visiting the workplace understand and comply with the measures put in place.

Lots of companies spend a great deal of time and effort setting up procedures but don’t effectively relay them to their staff or check that they are being followed.

Make sure the rules you put in place are being actively monitored and managed.

Common areas

The common areas of an office, which are used by multiple people are obviously the most likely places where the spread of corona virus is higher, if control measures are not in place.

Highlight these higher risk areas in the office such as lifts, toilets, receptions etc, and put in control measures such as :

• Limiting the number of people
• Floor markings to maintain social distancing
• Maximise ventilation
• Regularly clean
• Install physical barriers such as screens
• Display signage to enforce the rules
• Install hand sanitising stations

Office layout

Modifying the layout of the office can have a significant effect in reducing the potential transfer of Coronavirus. Key areas to consider are:

• Pinch points in your office – If there are narrow corridors, staircases and doorways, try to implement 1 way systems wherever possible using floor markings
• Desk arrangement – Space desks apart as far as practically possible. To allow people to meet social distancing rules. Ideally over 2m apart
• Avoidance of hot desks – Allocate work stations or keep the number of people to a specific desk to a minimum and enforce a clear desk policy to assist with cleaning

Arriving and leaving

It is easy to think you have made the office safe but forget about the people arriving and leaving. You need to limit the chances of anyone with Coronavirus entering the property. This can be achieved by:

• Putting up signage at entrances on the symptoms
• Avoiding overcrowding by staggering working times
• Providing more entry points into the office where possible
• Removing touch based security systems such as key pads
• Install hand sanitising stations and temperature checks

Track and trace

Make sure you know who has been in the office and when. If there is an issue of an infected person, you need to know who has been exposed and need to quarantine.

Having the entire work force off in quarantine for a period may have a major effect on the business. To reduce the risks:

• Stagger the times that team members are in the office so they are not all in on the same day
• Limit the movement of staff by using telephones and video calls around the office
• Implement a booking in system