WHO: Simple ways to prevent spread of COVID-19 in your workplace

Make sure your workplaces are clean and hygienic

Surfaces (e.g., desks and tables) and objects (e.g., telephones, keyboards) need to be wiped with disinfectant regularly o Why? Because contamination on surfaces touched by employees and customers is one of the main ways that COVID-19 spreads

Promote regular and thorough hand-washing by employees, contractors, and customers

Put sanitizing hand rub dispensers in prominent places around the workplace. Make sure these dispensers are regularly refilled o Display posters promoting hand-washing – ask your local public health authority for these or look on https://www.who.int/

Combine this with other communication measures such as offering guidance from occupational health and safety officers, briefings at meetings, and information on the intranet to promote hand-washing.

Make sure that staff, contractors, and customers have access to places where they can wash their hands with soap and water o Why? Because washing kills the virus on your hands and prevents the spread of COVID19.

Promote good respiratory hygiene in the workplace

Display posters are promoting respiratory hygiene. Combine this with other communication measures such as offering guidance from occupational health and safety officers, briefing at meetings and information on the intranet, etc.

Ensure that face masks1 and paper tissues are available at your workplaces, for those who develop a runny nose or cough at work, along with closed bins for hygienically disposing of them o Why? Because good respiratory hygiene prevents the spread of COVID-19

Advise employees and contractors to consult national travel advice before going on business trips. • Brief your employees, contractors, and customers that if COVID-19 starts spreading in your community, anyone with even a mild cough or low-grade fever (37.3 C or more) needs to stay at home. They should also stay home (or work from home) if they have had to take simple medications, such as paracetamol/acetaminophen, ibuprofen or aspirin, which may mask symptoms of infection

Keep communicating and promoting the message that people need to stay at home even if they have just mild symptoms of COVID-19.

When you or your employees return from traveling

Employees who have returned from an area where COVID-19 is spreading should monitor themselves for symptoms for 14 days and take their temperature twice a day. o If they develop even a mild cough or low-grade fever (i.e., a temperature of 37.3 C or more), they should stay at home and self-isolate. That means avoiding close contact (one meter or nearer) with other people, including family members. They should also telephone their healthcare provider or the local public health department, giving them details of their recent travel and symptoms.