What can you do to reduce the risk of disease being spread around the office?

Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. However, particularly during the height of flu season, employers may struggle to stop the spreading of diseases such as influenza and staph. Here is a list of steps every employer can take to reduce the risk of disease being spread around the office:

• Develop a sick leave policy that does not penalize sick employees, thereby encouraging employees who have influenza-related symptoms (e.g., fever, headache, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle aches, or upset stomach) to stay home so that they do not infect other employees. Recognize that employees with ill family members may need to stay home to care for them.

• Provide resources and a work environment that promotes personal hygiene. For example, provide tissues, no-touch trash cans, hand soap, hand sanitizer, disinfectants and disposable towels for employees to clean their work surfaces.

• Encourage employees to wash their hands frequently and avoid touching their nose, mouth, and eyes.

• Encourage employees to cover their coughs and sneezes.

• Encourage employees to obtain a seasonal influenza vaccine.

• Provide employees with up-to-date education and training on influenza risk factors, protective behaviors, and instruction on proper behaviors (for example, cough etiquette and care of personal protective equipment).

• Keep work surfaces, telephones, computer equipment and other frequently touched surfaces and office equipment clean.

• Discourage your employees from using other employees' phones, desks, offices or other work tools and equipment.

• If flu symptoms appear to be spreading among employees, minimize situations where groups of people are crowded together, such as in a meeting. Use e-mail, phones and text messages to communicate with each other. When meetings are necessary, avoid close contact by keeping a separation of at least six feet, where possible, and assure that there is proper ventilation in the meeting room. Reduce or eliminate unnecessary social interactions.

• Promote healthy lifestyles that include plenty of sleep, physical activity, good nutrition, stress management, drinking plenty of fluids, and smoking cessation. A person's overall health impacts their body's immune system and can affect their ability to fight off, or recover from, an infectious disease.

Source: American Industrial Hygiene Association; www.aiha.org.