With the availability of flu shots — both the H1N1 vaccine and the regular flu vaccine — continuing to be in short suppoly, many employers are doing what they can to prevent a flu epidemic within the workplace. In simplest terms, the best way to prevent flu from spreading throughout the workplace is by practicing good hygiene and using common sense.
When a dietician was asked a number of years ago what she considered to be the best health advice, her response was not a balaced diet. Instead it was much more basic than that: “Wash your hands,” she said.
Those three words may be the single most important thing individuals can do to prevent flu from spreading throughout the workplace. Yet, even though most of us have been told to wash our hands — particulary after answering the call of nature — since we were pre-schoolers, it is amazing how many adults fail to do so.
Or at least they did. Fear of catching the swine flu has caused many of us to remember to repeatedly wash our hands during the day. In addition, many businesses have placed hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes and tissues throughout the workplace where employees can quickly put disinfectant on their hands.
Another simple rule: Sneeze or cough into your sleeve. No one wants to be near somepone who sneezes without covering his or her mouth.
Many employers are doing even more. If possible, many businesses are arranging for employees with flu symptoms or sick family members to work from home. They also are holding fewer in-person meetings, and some are even discouraging handshakes. Employers also are teaching about hygiene, distributing information about the pandemic, telling folks to stay home if they get sick and scrapping the required doctor’s note. Some companies have even distributed “wellness kits” with thermometers and face masks.
One of the bigeest challenges is getting employees who may be “coming down with something” to stay home if that means they will lose a day of pay — and some 50 million workers in this country have no sick pay. Other employees may have used all their sick days. While no supervisor likes to send an employee who is sneezing or coughing home if that worker will not get paid for the missed work, it is better than keeping the worker on the job and having him or her cause co-workers to become ill.
To date, no major employer has been greatly impacted by the flu, while a few mom-and-pop operations have been forced to close for a few days. We hope this flu season proves to be not nearly as bad as many have predicted, but even if there is no widespread epidemic, employing good hygiene and common sense is sound advice 365 days of the year.
