Friday, October 02, 2009
Influenza A / H1N1 2nd Wave
Recommended action steps for employers
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. October 2, 2009
The Ministry of Health wishes to advise employers of the recommended action steps they need to take during the 2nd wave of the H1N1 pandemic.
Sick employees should stay home.
People with symptoms of flu-like illness should stay home for 7-10 days or until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (whichever is longer).
Sick employees at work should be sent home.
Employees who appear to have a flu-like illness upon arrival or become sick during the work day should be promptly separated from others and sent home.
Employees diagnosed with H1N1 should stay at home, restrict contact with others and follow their doctor’s advice with regard to when they can return to work.
If you have had an employee diagnosed with H1N1, consider active screening of employees who report to work.
At the beginning of the workday or the beginning of each shift, ask all employees about flu-like symptoms and those with fever, cough, sore-throat etc. should be asked to go home.
Encourage your employees to wash their hands often and provide hand sanitizers for them.
Instruct employees to wash their hands often with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand cleaner, especially after coughing or sneezing. (Implementation of an obligatory hand-cleaning exercise at fixed intervals during the work-day may be of value in encouraging this new behaviour)
Encourage your employees to cover their coughs and sneezes.
Communicate the importance of covering coughs and sneezes and provide tissues and no-touch wastebaskets.
Clean surfaces and items that are more likely to have frequent hand contact.
Use the routine day-to-day cleaning agents to clean surfaces that are frequently touched e.g. kitchen/pantry surfaces, bathroom surfaces, telephones, door-knobs. While more frequent surface cleaning during the day may be helpful, use of additional/ special disinfection agents beyond routine cleaning is not recommended.
Sanitization of entire buildings and office spaces is unnecessary, even if someone at the office has been diagnosed or treated for H1N1. The virus does not survive on surfaces for more than 24 hours.
Protect employees who are at higher risk for complications of flu.
Employees at higher risk for complications of flu, like pregnant women and people with certain chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes and asthma, should check with their health care provider promptly, if they become sick.
Prepare for increased numbers of employee absences due to illness in employees and their family members and plan ways for essential business functions to continue.
Cross-train staff to perform essential functions so that business operations can continue.
Offices do not need to close unless there is evidenced widespread transmission in the workplace. That decision should be made in conjunction with the Ministry of Health. If you have more than one employees with H1N1, please contact immediately your County Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) to discuss the situation, arrange for a site visit and to take the necessary action under the guidance of the CMOH.
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