The New Normal: Returning to Work Safely

The COVID-19 pandemic changed how many people approached work. Many companies, seemingly overnight, adapted their business to work-from-home life. However, now that vaccinations are underway and continually amping up, many businesses are trying to figure out how to adjust to the new normal, return to the office, and make sure that their employees are safe during the process. We've created a guide to help business owners in a variety of industries not only return to work safely, but instill effective, reliable, and healthy ongoing cleaning, sanitization, and disinfecting habits.

Planning Your Return to the Office

After a year of endless Zoom calls, many businesses are trying to figure out how to slowly return to "business as usual" and safely get employees back to the office. But what does that look like? Well, it requires careful planning and implementation of effective safety measures and taking the time to ensure that all employees are on-board with the process. After all, returning to work safely is only achievable if everyone on the team is doing their part to keep others and themselves safe.

Minimize Contact - a hybrid work approach, which limits the number of employees that can be in the office at the same time, can cut down on face-to-face contact. Purchasing individual supplies, such as phones, staplers, etc., to reduce sharing objects and contact with other employees can further support healthy social distancing when you return to the office.

Stock COVID-19 Prevention Supplies - make sure that all employees have easy access to COVID-19 essential supplies, such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, and other protective equipment.

Increase COVID-19 Safety Awareness - put up signs in highly trafficked areas of the office to remind employees to wear their masks, avoid sharing objects, maintain a distance of 6 feet at all times with other people in the office, frequently wash their hands, and regularly clean and disinfect their work stations and shared areas and objects after use, such as doorknobs, fridge handles, phones, computers, etc.

Symptom Monitoring - instruct employees to be alert for symptoms of Coronavirus, such as fever, coughing, shortness of breath, loss of taste and/or smell, nausea, etc. Employees should regularly take their temperature before entering the office. Any employee with a temperature greater than 100.4º should stay home and get tested.
Tell Employees to Stay Home & Get Tested - set clear expectations with your team regarding what they should do if they are displaying symptoms of COVID-19, have recently come into contact with someone who tested positive for Coronavirus, or suspects that they have contracted coronavirus. Make sure that employees know that if they are feeling unwell or have had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, they should stay home, tell their supervisor, and schedule a COVID-19 test.

Cleaning Supplies Your Business Needs to Return to Work Safely

By now, it's no secret that one of the most important parts of preventing the spread of COVID-19 is 1) social distancing and 2) regularly cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing all surfaces. To make both of these things happen, businesses will need the following items:

Soap, Hand Sanitizer & Paper Towels

Employees should use liquid hand soap, preferably from a touch-free dispenser, and wash their hands frequently under warm water for 20 seconds before drying their hands with a disposable paper towel. Center-pull rolls can also be used to wipe down shared surfaces after use and to open doors without having to make contact.

Disposable, Durable Wipers

Disposable wipers and tissues are great to have around the office to promote employee hygiene and when cleaning and sanitizing shared spaces and objects.

Disposable Cleaning Wipes

Precision dry wipes are an essential product that all offices need to have when returning to the office. Dry wipes can be used to thoroughly and effectively clean surfaces and can be both absorbent to clean up spills or soaked in a sanitizing or disinfecting solution to use as a pre-saturated cleaning cloth. Placing reusable canister buckets around the office with your favorite cleaning solution containing bleach or alcohol can be a great way to promote frequent cleaning in the workplace.

Bulk Cleaning Cloths

Bulk cleaning cloths can be used to clean up spills, clean surfaces, and disinfect shared objects around the office.

Specialty, Lint and Streak Free Cloths for Industrial Applications

If you work in a controlled environment and require reliable, lint and streak-free cloths, White Dupont® Spunlace Wipes are excellent for cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting surfaces and equipment.

Contact Mednik Riverbend for All of Your Cleaning & Disinfecting Product Needs

Mednik Riverbend is here to help businesses in a variety of industries safely return to the office. Whether you have a question about placing a bulk order, or would like to speak with one of our team members about creating the perfect custom cleaning wipe solution for your needs, we are here to help. We are so sure about our ability to help your business get the effective cleaning strategy it needs to return to the office safely, we have a 100% money-back guarantee. Let us help you and your employees adapt to the new normal and return to work safely and confidently. Contact us today.