Businesses considering how to create a safe post-Covid working environment often have office layouts and occupancy levels at top of their agenda. While these big issues need sorting, the finer points of your office environment also need consideration as the danger of the Covid devil is often in the overlooked details. Among these is an appraisal of all of the surfaces your employees are likely to touch.
Dotting the Is and making the Teas
The kettle in the office kitchen is a great example. Tea lovers, coffee lovers and even those just wanting a Pot Noodle will touch it. Once to fill it up (and touching the tap while doing so) then to switch it on, and then to pour it.
That’s multiple chances to unwittingly deposit the virus or pick it up from someone else. A slew of positive Covid tests and a swathe of your staff self-isolating could land your business in hot water.
So, unplug the kettle and let us install a touch-free boiling water system. With capacities ranging from 1.5 to 40 litres, these clever, modern systems deliver boiling water for your colleagues’ cuppas instantly while also saving time, energy and money.
Adopting an open-door policy
Door handles and push plates are another type of frequently touched surface that is easy to overlook.
Foot-operated handles that attach to the bottom of the door are a relatively low-cost solution that can work in some instances.
The challenge is that many internal doors and fire doors can be heavier than standard office doors and can be tricky to pull open using the foot operated device. And for obvious safety reasons, fire doors must not be propped open.
But we can provide simple and cost effective solutions that allow doors – including fire doors – to be held open and automatically released if your fire alarms go off. (They do this without the need for any hard-wired connection to your fire alarm system, so installation is a simple process.)
We can also retrofit automated door arms that are triggered by proximity sensors. These can even be linked to your building access system for enhanced security.
Dividing and conquering
In the past, padded fabric covered screens or dividers were a popular way to separate spaces within open-plan offices. But the hygiene challenges of Covid have led many to replace such partitions with hard, smooth easily wipeable alternatives.
All well and good – at least this is a surface that has not been overlooked – but hygiene’s gain is often productivity’s loss as hard screens lack the acoustic-absorbing properties of their fabric counterparts.
At worst, the result is a louder, echoey office in which people find it hard to concentrate, make important calls, or discuss things with colleagues while not disturbing others.
Help is hand, however, as we can supply new forms of office partition that use a special anti-bacterial fabric. The screens are REACH compliant and available in a wide range of colours to meet both your health-and-safety and aesthetic requirements – a true best-of-all-worlds solution.
Flushed with success
Washrooms are an obvious place where the risk of spreading coronavirus is high due to their shared use and the number of surfaces people normally need to touch.
But we can retrofit occupancy-sensitive light switches and touch-free taps, flushes and hand dryers within your existing washroom setup. And many of these highly efficient solutions will serve to save you money in the long term.