How to Stay Safe When Working From Home Isn’t an Option

With the spread of COVID-19, many businesses are closing their doors to employees and clients and implementing work from home procedures. This has proved remarkably effective in slowing down the spread of the deadly virus. Unfortunately, this isn’t possible in all circumstances. If working from home isn’t possible for you, there are still ways that you can keep yourself safe.

Wash Your Hands

Wash your hands frequently in the workplace. All businesses should have sanitizers and disinfectants available for all their employees. Use these to sanitize yourself every time you return from communal areas of the workplace. Try to avoid touching surfaces that other people have touched. Use an elbow to open bathroom doors rather than your hand. If someone comes into your workspace, wipe down any surfaces that they touch or items that they use.

Wear Protective Gear

You can also protect yourself through what you wear. Ideally, you should wear clean clothes that cover most of your body. Long pants and long-sleeved shirts will work. This can reduce the likelihood of you coming in contact with the virus. When you return home, carefully disinfect and clean your clothes.

Additionally, you should wear face masks and gloves. Face masks can help prevent you from inhaling the virus or spreading the virus to others. Of course, if you are sick you should not be at work right now, but it can be difficult to tell if you are infected in the early stages of the disease. Gloves allow you to avoid coming in contact with the virus if it is on a surface you are touching. However, it is important that you change your gloves regularly and that you do not touch a surface with your bare hands that you previously touched with gloves. Doing so renders the gloves useless.

Social Distancing

While at work, maintain the social distancing guidelines as much as possible. Ask to have your workstation moved a safe distance away from your other coworkers. Avoid socializing in proximity with your coworkers. Should you need to hand something to a coworker, leave it in an open location and let them know that they can go grab it. This will prevent you from coming in contact with them. If meetings must be conducted, hold them in a large well-ventilated area. This will allow those attending to remain a safe distance apart. The ventilation is important because it helps remove any viruses that may be present in the air.

The effects of COVID-19 are still not fully understood, nor is there a viable treatment available. As such, it is very important that you take these things seriously. It may be inconvenient, but it is saving lives. You never know if you or your coworkers could have a serious reaction to the virus.

Want some more health advice? Read this article next: How Stress Affects Your Health