How Do I Protect My Staff From Coronavirus? Vaccines.

4 min read | 23 Mar 2020

We vaccinate with Fluarix Tetra 2020.  It may not be the exact thing but it protects us from 2 viruses hitting us at the same time.

So far no one at our workplace has the flu and we've been shipping to our US and worldwide clients.

This business continuity plan has helped us minimize the risk to staff, minimize the risk of premises becoming a node of transmission, ensure plans are in place should staff be on leave of absence, quarantined, or infected, and ensure alternative arrangements with suppliers and clients so that business operations can continue.

1.  Human resource management.  I am the Medical Director who is keeping staff safe and ensuring leadership continuity in decision-making.  I have canceled travel and have deferred organizing non-essential events.

I know where all my employees are working at any given time for contact tracing.  We can contact them quickly when we need to.  I have evacuation plans in place for every single location.  We have emergency response team leaders and everyone knows who they are.

We are looking out for 38°C fever and respiratory symptoms such as dry cough, body aches, headaches, runny nose, stuffy nose, sore throat, tiredness, shortness of breath, chills, pneumonia, and bronchitis and will deny entry to unwell individuals.

Should a staff has a 38°C fever with flu-like symptoms, he will put on a face mask and be isolated to a designated area.  Other company staff will put on N95 mask and hand gloves.  If he has returned from a foreign country or has come within 2 meters of an infected person in the last 14 days, MOH 1-800-333-9999 will transport him to the hospital.  Else he will visit a nearby doctor.  His workplace will be ventilated and disinfected.  We will contact trace and segregate close contact staff.  Close contact refers to having sustained unprotected exposure within 2 meters of a confirmed case over a period of 30 minutes or more.

We use separate washrooms and separate computer keyboards.  We conduct temperature screening twice a day.

I ensure that work areas are ventilated, sanitized, and adequately equipped with facilities for handwashing.  We have increased the frequency of cleaning commonly used areas and maintain a registration list of visitors.

We're quickly reviewing personal health insurance policies for workers to cover covid-19 infectious disease hospitalization, ICU, and death.

Posters on COVID-19:

 Advisory on COVID-19 in China sam ink

 Practise Good Personal Hygiene sam ink

 Be socially responsible and let's all do our part sam ink

 Advisory on See a Doctor and Public hygiene sam ink

2.  Business processes and functions.  I've deployed Team A and Team B employees with different work schedules.  Team A and Team B are physically segregated to avoid the risk of infection between teams.

The 2 teams are cross-trained and can be arranged to cover one another to minimize disruptions.

Staff who can work from home will work from home and teleconference.  We work more than 2 meters apart and meet no longer than 30 minutes.

SAM_INK_Coronavirus_Health_Screening_Form_for_Visitors_3E.pdf
SAM_INK_Coronavirus_Notification_Form_for_Employees_3F.pdf
SAM_INK_Coronavirus_Temperature_Monitoring_Log_3G.pdf

We've got an adequate supply of appropriate Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and medical equipment like thermometers, disposable gloves, surgical masks, N-95 masks, tissue paper, hand towels, and disinfectants.

3.  Supplier and client management.  I've broadened my base of suppliers to diversify my supply-chain.  Essential suppliers must have continuity plans.

4.  Communications, both internal and external.  I'm updating employees, suppliers, and clients on WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.

Infected babies and children below the age of 10 have very little to no symptoms at all.  This has caused people to let their guard down and participate in gatherings.  They are transmitting the virus without knowing it.

At this point, your travel history plays the biggest role in determining whether you have the virus.  If you haven't traveled in airplanes you're likely in the clear.

Two tips to keep in mind:  keep hands washed and stay away from gatherings of more than 10 people.

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Sam Leong MSc MBA.
WA +65-9011-2282 | sam@sam-ink.com