Businesses becoming ‘COVID complacent’: 6 tips to keep employees safe

As we near the end of the third year we’ve had COVID-19, many people have put the pandemic back of mind as we look to the future. However, leaders who dismiss the dangers the virus poses can land themselves in trouble.

“Two years on from COVID, and we’ve put lockdowns behind us, which is great. But we’ve also gotten quite slack about some of the basic skills we learnt during the COVID era, namely, hand hygiene and general disinfecting practices,” explained Brett McAllen, @WORKSPACES chief executive.

With this in mind, leaders can benefit by recognising these six key health and safety themes:

1. Setting barriers

“During COVID, many businesses implemented measures to create distance and screens between workers and customers. Now that we have moved on from COVID, many of these have been removed which played a vital role in curbing the spread of viruses,” said Mr McAllen.

“If banks can continue to have their workers behind a screen for safety measures and we can be accepting of that, there’s really no reason why we can’t continue to be careful in the workplace with how we bring people together in a confined area.

“It is important that businesses continue to focus on the health and wellbeing of their people. New waves of COVID keep coming, along with other viruses. It is important that we don’t lose focus on the good behaviours we adopted during the pandemic to keep everyone safe and well.”

2. Timely reminders

“Another habit that has faded into nothingness is the cleaning schedules that were imposed during COVID. Right around Australia, places like supermarkets were regularly wiping down high-touch surfaces. While it added cost to business operations, it is a good practice that has waned somewhat across the country,” explained Mr McAllen.

“It is highly beneficial to regularly disinfect surfaces that come into constant exposure to people. Even if you work by yourself in front of a computer, it’s always a good idea to clean down surfaces for hygiene reasons. And with many businesses turning to hot desking, your desk today could be someone else’s desk tomorrow.”

He continued: “Hot desking works well with hybrid work models when some teams work from home on certain days while other workers use the office desk space. But hot desking does require increased vigilance when it comes to office hygiene, so it’s important to recognise the risks and remember to sanitise communal work spaces diligently and regularly.”

3. Considering the safety about others

“During COVID, we were all really good about looking at the bigger picture and understanding that basic personal hygiene isn’t just about protecting one’s self, but it’s also about keeping everyone around you safe,” Mr McAllen commented.

“By being mindful of the risks that we might be creating for others, we are also making sure that we keep other people safe. Remember that not everybody has the privilege of enjoying good health, and that in your workplace, you might well have a colleague or two with compromised immunity. With just a bit more consideration, we can look after them, too.

“In other countries, if you’re feeling unwell, it’s considered part of basic etiquette and a courtesy to wear a mask if you can’t stay home. This is a practice that we should be adopting. It makes sense that if you are unwell, that you should be keeping your germs to yourself instead of going around spreading them. Surely, the stigma of wearing a mask has worn off by now.”

4. The dangers of caution fatigue

“Many people understandably responded to the pandemic with anxiety. When we are anxious, the human body’s response is incredible at making us hyper-vigilant. This is our fight-or-flight response, and it helps us immediately deal with whatever is threatening us in the moment. However, as the pandemic dragged on, people experienced caution fatigue, meaning that they felt less motivated and less inclined to follow the advice and guidelines that had been laid out for them,” outlined Mr McAllen.

“Letting your guard down is dangerous when you’re facing viruses that are microscopic and cannot be seen by the naked eye. You just never know which viruses you’re coming into contact with. See the risks as they really are and don’t minimise them.”

5. Promote vaccinations at work

“One of the great achievements of COVID was normalising vaccinations. Workplaces should continue to encourage workers to stay up to date with their vaccinations, and this starts by normalising this habit. I am not just referring to COVID vaccinations, but vaccinations in general,” said Mr McAllen.

Mr McAllen added: “People are more likely to get vaccinated if they know someone else has been vaccinated and also if they believe that refusing vaccinations is abnormal. Workplaces can go a step further by visually promoting vaccinations in high-traffic areas.”

6. Prioritising our health and safety

“As we continue as a society to make progress in our post-COVID world, we must not forget the lessons of the past while we surge forward. We spend so much of our time on weekdays at the office that it makes sense to prioritise our health. Ultimately, we all stand to benefit from it, so making the effort to do simple things like wearing a mask to work if we’re sick or wiping down surfaces can go a long way in keeping us all in the peak of health,” concluded Mr McAllen.