As the country slowly beginning to emerge from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, workplace safety has taken on a much broader meaning.
The pandemic shuttered offices from New York to California amid well-founded fears of COVID-19 spreading rapidly among employees working in close confines. And now, with companies looking to reopen their doors in the coming days and months, concerns remain widespread about the safety of returning to the workplace.
In fact, 73% of U.S. workers fear that returning to in-person operations could pose a risk to their personal health and safety. What’s more, 75% would even consider quitting their job if they felt their employers’ actions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 were inadequate or inappropriate.
A simple “trust us” from employers is no longer adequate.
That is why — in addition to preparing for emergency situations, preventing trips and falls in the office, and broadly creating an inclusive safety culture at workplaces — companies must adopt a more holistic view of safety that prioritizes worker health.
The reality is that if one person comes into work sick with the flu, over half of surfaces in an office, including doorknobs, copy machine buttons, and refrigerator doors, can become infected. Strikingly, contamination of a single commonly touched area can infect between 40% and 60% of other surfaces in less than half a day — and in some cases within two hours.