How To Prepare Your Business During Corona Virus Outbreak

With the virus outbreak, the nation went under lockdown. Many small scales and well-established industries were not prepared, therefore met with wide impacts. Many proprietors bugged by the question of survival of their business. The need to prepare business for a Coronavirus outbreak became crucial.

It has become challenging for businesses to keep the revenue flow under brutal conditions, especially small-scale industries, and start-ups. Coming up with different plans, keeping the business going with work from home, or working with half the workforce.

Therefore, strategies and plans need to be developed in order to prepare for circumstances. But before getting into solutions, it is vital to understand the problem.

What Is COVID-19 And How It Spreads?

Corona Virus, known as COVID-19, belongs to the family of RNA viruses which tends to affect living bodies such as mammals, birds etcetera. In humans, it causes respiratory problems which can range from mild to lethal. The virus commenced in Wuhan, China in December of 2019 and spread worldwide.

SARS  (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) or MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) are the two conditions the virus leads to under extreme conditions. However, remaining calm and adapting proactive behavior is the key to staying healthy.

Symptoms Of Corona Virus Outbreak

This severe infection can cause pneumonia, serious acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. The symptoms of corona virus  are as follows:

1. Persistent pain in the chest.
2. Cough.
3. Cold.
4. Fever.
5. Shortness of breath or breathing difficulties.
6. Inability to arouse.
7. Bluish lips or face.

The symptoms may appear 2-14 days after the exposure.Seek medical advice if there are any signs of the virus or been in contact with someone carrying it.

How Can I Safeguard My Business In The Midst Of Corona Virus Outbreak?

Organisations, nowadays, are trying to work with the given conditions by adopting suitable measures. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also formed policies and guidelines for workplaces and workforces.

Actively promote sick employees to stay at home.

1. Companies working with brief workforces should keep in mind to have a sanitized environment. Also, employees too should keep a check on their health and be regularly checked.
2. Determine sick leave policies are consistent with public health guidance. The employees too are to be made aware of all those policies.
3. The necessity to develop non-punitive leave policies for sick employees staying at home.
4. The requirement of a healthcare provider’s note for employees who are sick with acute respiratory tract illness to validate their illness. As healthcare provider offices and medical facilities may be extremely busy and unable to provide such documentation in a timely way.
5. Employers should maintain flexible policies that permit employees to stay home to care for a sick family member.

Isolate sick employees.

1. Employees showing symptoms, falling sick in the course of work should be sent home effective immediately.
2.  Sick employees or the ones easily affected should remain at home, isolate themselves. If not, others can get infected, leading to fatal results.

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Perform routine environmental sanitation.

1. Promote cough and sneeze etiquette and proper handwashing. Check that there are adequate supplies of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, soaps and facial tissues in your nearby workforce places.
2. Regularly wipe down the frequently touched surfaces and provide disposable wipes for employees to clean their workspace with.

Work-From-Home

1. Work-From-Home is the best way amid crisis to keep workflow without anybody getting affected. If the business suits its conditions it can be adopted.
2. With work-from-home, it is important to keep the company together. Constantly engaging with your team to work on the same page with Zoom or Google meetings, communication is the key.
3. Form plans and policies of how the next few months are to be like if work-from-home continues and discuss with everyone to keep them updated.

Build an Infectious Disease Outbreak Response Plan

What are the essential considerations for the Employers?

1. Reducing transmission among staff.
2. Protecting the people who are at higher risk of adverse health complications.
3. Minimizing the adverse effects on other entities in their supply chains.

Some of the essential considerations that Employers should take care of are as follows:

1. Check that the plan is flexible and involve all your employees in developing and reviewing your infectious disease response plan.
2. Conduct a focused discussion on using your plan, to find out ahead of time whether the plan has any issues that need to be corrected.
3. Share your plan with the employees and explain what are the human resource policies, workplace and leave flexibilities, pay and benefits will be available to them.
4. Share the best practices with other businesses in your communities (especially those in your supply chain), chambers of trade, and associations to improve the overall community response efforts.

Important Suggestions For The Infectious Disease Corona Virus Outbreak Response Plan

There are some important suggestions that you should follow for the Infectious Disease Response Plan:

• Identify workplace exposure risks: According to OSHA, exposure to risk may be elevated for workers who interact with potentially infected travelers. They include healthcare workers, laboratories, airline operations, border protection, solid waste, and wastewater management, and those who travel to areas where the virus is spreading.
• Review HR policies: HR policies should strictly follow public health recommendations and already existing state and federal workplace laws.
• Determine whether work from home can be possible: This practice involves establishing policies for flexible worksites and work hours. If your business provides the ability for employees to work from home to prevent the transmission, prepare in advance for multiple employees to work from home.
• Identify important roles, functions, and suppliers: Determine how your business would continue to operate with employees working from their home and their outputs.

Conclusion

The coronavirus has affected everyone, everywhere. With the lockdown and its aftermath, businesses that are adapting to the environment are the ones surviving this outbreak. For the ones who are not, it is crucial for them to understand it rather than working on last-minute practices disastrous for the organization.