returning to work after a crisis | Safety Excellence For Business

Returning to Work and Getting it Right!

June 10, 2020 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

These are stressful times for all of us.

It will not be easy as people are returning to the workplace. Leaders and managers must get out of their offices and purposefully engage with the people. They need to talk about the COVID-19 problem, share what is happening, and talk about the problems with which they are dealing. They need to do this with openness, honesty, respect, and caring. This is not just a one-off contact; leaders and managers need to engage in these conversations every day!

People are deeply concerned about returning to work and what they may face regarding the COVID-19 situation. Leaders and managers must not ignore or down-play the people’s concerns. If the people do not have confidence in their leaders and feel that they are being ignored, they will take other steps to protect themselves. Being indifferent to the people and ignoring their concerns is the first step to bringing in OSHA, a union or aggravating the union you have. You already have enough problems.

This is a time of real test for those in leadership positions. It is time to build a more collaborative workplace.

Do you really care about your people?
Do you really listen to the people and try to understand their concerns?
Can you honestly, really share with the people the challenges the business is facing and ask for the people’s help so everyone can be safe?

Show caring for them and their families. This is a time to .

In a recent LinkedIn post, Bruce Wayne with Johnson of Sims Crane & Equipment Company of Clearwater, FL, shared some really good ideas about what leaders need to be doing. For example, he talked about building trust, listening, showing appreciation, apologizing for mistakes, giving credit where it is due. I built on this posting by adding that leaders need to show courage, make the tough decisions, and address the complex problems. Leaders need to talk with the people about why they are making these decisions, help them to understand where you are coming from, and ask for their help in solving the problems.

Tell the truth as best you can. If things change, then go back and tell the people what changed and keep them in the loop. People can handle difficult news, but they will not tolerate misinformation or lies. Leaders must balance the people side and the business side of things.

Continuously talking with the people about what is going on and asking for their help in finding the best way to work together to minimize the COVID-19 hazard is important leadership and managership work.

Get everyone engaged in helping each other and do the social distancing and take the other precautions that are needed. Be sure that everyone has and uses the appropriate PPE.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: build a more collaborative workplace, changes at work after a pandemic, coronavirus, COVID-19, employee engagement, engage employees on workplace safety, pandemic, requirements for returning to work, returning to the workplace, returning to work after a crisis, returning to work after a pandemic, returning to work after recovering from covid-19, staying healthy at work, talk with employees

COVID-19 Return-to-Work Standards

May 11, 2020 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

On April 15, 2020, David Sparkman of EHS Today, wrote about new guidance from the CDC regarding COVID-19.

I have abstracted it here for those reading this newsletter since you may have missed it.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently offered guidance for people returning to work who have been through the COVID-19 illness. The CDC had recommended that people self-isolate for 14 days after recovering from COVID-19. The CDC has now created two, more flexible standards for people returning to work after recovering from COVID-19. According to the CDC these recommendations will prevent most incidents of secondary spread of the virus.

Several requirements are still in effect:

If an employee arrives at work showing COVID-19 symptoms, that
person needs to be separated from other employees and sent home.
If an employee becomes sick during the day, that person needs to be separated and sent home.

First, under the new guidance, when someone returns to work after the COVID-19 home isolation, the employer needs to:

be sure that at least three days (72 hours) have passed since their recovery, meaning they have not run a fever without the use of fever-reducing medications,
respiratory symptoms such as coughing and shortness of breath have improved,
and at least seven days have passed since symptoms first symptoms first appeared.

Second, if the employee is tested to determine if they are still contagious, they can also leave home after these three conditions have been met:

The employee no longer has a fever without the use of fever reducing medication.
Symptoms like coughing and shortness of breath have improved.
The employee has received two negative tests in a row, 24 hours apart, when the patient’s doctor is following the CDC guidelines.

In all cases, the healthcare provider and local health department should be consulted.

If an employee tests positive for COVID-19, the employer needs to inform other employees of the possible exposure and keep track of whom they have talked with for disease tracking purposes by health officials.

Please pay very careful attention to and help employees who are over 60 and/or have some preexisting condition like a heart problem or diabetes since they are much more vulnerable to this highly contagious virus. About 85% of those who go into hospital are over 65 and about half of them die.

This is a very tough disease!

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: cdc, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, changes at work after a pandemic, coronavirus, COVID-19, requirements for returning to work, returning to work after a crisis, returning to work after a pandemic, returning to work after recovering from covid-19, staying healthy at work

Returning to Work After the Pandemic

April 10, 2020 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

We are in the middle of this Covid-19 pandemic.

So many people are sick and have died that I expect that almost everyone knows of someone who has the virus. Hopefully we are coming to the point where the increases in the number of the sick and those who have died is leveling off and may be headed down.

More and more, our collective attention will turn to getting the economy going again and people going back to work. Balancing the medical and economic needs will be difficult. There will be a lot of thought going into this and a lot of debate about just who should go back to work and when.

As people begin to return to work, there may likely be requirements to wear a face mask of some sort so that someone who is still carrying the virus, without knowing it, will be less likely to transmit it to someone else. The challenges, as we go into our workplaces, will be around social distancing and when and where to wear face masks. Social distancing will be difficult or even impossible in some jobs.

Our supervisors and managers will have to talk with everyone so that the ground rules are clear and everyone will follow them. There will have to be good discussions with the unions, if there is one in your workplace. It is also important to realize that OSHA rules remain in the picture under the General Duty Clause, requiring the companies to provide a safe workplace.

Our teams and work crews may not have everyone back to work, for a variety of reasons, so it is important that management and the people talk fully together about how to make the adjustments so the work can be done safely.

It will be a hazardous time as people come back to work and things start up. Anytime we are in a period of change like this, safety becomes a bigger issue. We all need to look out for each other and help each other. Having a respectful, caring work environment is really important so we can all get through the next few months safely. We all need each other, so please be fully present and vigilant.

The Edge of Chaos

This pandemic has created a lot of change and instability in our society. The FDA and the CDC have changed or suspended many rules and regulations in order to attack the pandemic and save lives. It is a period of high energy and creativity as people everywhere are coming up with ways to help people. Industries have shifted to making PPE-like face masks. The foodservice industry has shifted to take out and delivery. This creativity and positive energy is gratifying.

However, when we return to work, we will be tempted to change things because some of our team mates are missing or the patterns of work have changed, we must be very careful. If you see a need to change things, get together with everyone who is involved and talk about the situation and what should be done. Make the changes and adjustments, but do it after careful consideration so no one gets hurt or the processes get spoiled.

Change is important. We just need to be deliberate and be thoughtful, engaging those involved (operator, mechanics, supervisors, engineers, etc.) so we get the best thinking and do the right things. As we consider the management of change, we also need to document the changes carefully.

These difficult times require all of us to be alert, respectful and caring.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: being alert during a crisis, business safety requirements, leadership during a crisis, OSHA, pandemic, returning to work after a crisis, safety gear, safety gear in businesses, safety requirements, safety teams