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Flu Season: The Importance of Personal Hygiene and PPE 2021
NATIONAL
The Importance of Personal Hygiene and PPE 2021
Australia’s normal flu season runs from June until September or October. In the last 18 months, influenza is currently at historically low levels in Australia.
In its latest weekly report, the “Flutracking’ surveillance system recorded no cases of the flu among its more than 52,000 participants, while in the nearly 16 weeks to 21 April, there have only been 214 laboratory-confirmed cases nationwide.
In 2020 Chris Moy from the Australian Medical Association said that high immunisation (flu) rates, as well as mask-wearing and physical distancing due to COVID-19, helped stop the spread of flu last year.
However, this year we need to be ever more vigilant as not only we have to contend with outbreaks of COVID-19, but we are also entering the 2021 flu season
What is the difference between Flu & COVID-19?
Influenza (Flu) and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. COVID-19 is caused by infection with a new coronavirus (called SARS-CoV-2), and flu is caused by infection with influenza viruses. Because some of the symptoms of flu and COVID-19 are similar, it may be hard to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone, and testing is needed to help confirm a diagnosis.
Both COVID-19 and flu can have varying degrees of signs and symptoms, ranging from no symptoms (asymptomatic) to severe symptoms. Common symptoms that COVID-19 and flu share include:
» Fever or feeling feverish/
chills
» Cough » Shortness of breath or
difficulty breathing
» Fatigue (tiredness) » Sore throat
» Runny or stuffy nose » Muscle pain or body aches » Headache
» Some people may have
vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults
COVID-19
COVID-19 seems to cause more serious illnesses in some people. Other than the signs and symptoms of the flu, other indicators of COVID-19 could be the change in or loss of taste or smell.
How to protect your business? Hygiene! Hygiene! Hygiene!
Now is not the time to become complacent with the good hygiene practices.
Wash Hands
Good hygiene requires everyone to wash their hands regularly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and dry them thoroughly, preferably with clean, single-use paper towels. If paper towels are unavailable, other methods such as electric hand dryers can be used. However, hands will still need to be dried completely.
Everyone must wash and dry their hands: • before and after eating • after coughing or sneezing,
smoking
• NATIONAL after going to the toilet, and
• when changing tasks and after touching potentially contaminated surfaces • Between changing gloves • Between tasks Sanitise Hands
An alcohol-based hand sanitiser with at least 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol as the active ingredient must be used as per the manufacturer’s instructions when it is impossible to wash hands or use it after washing hands. Sanitiser stations should be set up through the common areas to encourage regular use.
Personal /Workplace hygiene:
This includes employees; » cover their coughs and sneezes
with their elbow or a clean tissue (and no spitting)
» avoid touching their face, eyes,
nose, and mouth
» dispose of tissues and cigarette
butts hygienically, e.g., in closed bins
» wash and dry their hands
completely before and after smoking a cigarette
» wash and dry their hands
completely before and after interacting with customers
» clean and disinfect shared
equipment and plant after use, including the basin area
» wash body, hair (including facial
hair) and clothes thoroughly every day
» have no intentional physical
contact, for example, shaking hands and patting backs.
PPE
PPE includes items of equipment such as gloves, aprons, face masks and eye protection, which are worn to protect the wearer and/or reduce the risk. Where personal protective equipment (PPE) is usually reusable, it needs to be cleaned appropriately after every use Single-use PPE such as disposable gloves must be used as that, single use only. It is good practice to inspect gloves before putting them on to ensure there are no perforations, cuts, or tears in the material. Any cuts or sores on the skin must be covered appropriately before putting on the gloves. There is also a method for putting them on and taking them off to ensure contamination is reduced- This is called Donning and Doffing.
Educate your Employees
This can be done with various tools such as training and signage. Signage is great as it is a consistent reminder to wash hands, to cover sneezes with elbows, use tissues (then wash hands!) and having good personal hygiene will help reduce the flu and any other nasties spreading. It also reinforces the correct procedure Other tools could include policies and procedures in place to train, support and enhance your employees. Having these sets up the expectations and creates the ‘culture’. Some of these could include;
• Handwashing • Dress and appearance (personal hygiene & uniform) • Cleaning • Illness/infection disease at the workplace
Have the right resources available
This may sound simple- and it is – provides your workplace with enough hand wash, paper towels, tissues, hand sanitiser etc, to make it easy for your employee to do the right thing. The flu and other illnesses, including COVID-19, cost the Australian economy billions of dollars annually through absenteeism at the workplace. The best way to protect your business, your employees and even your customers are through prevention. By incorporating simple actions and reinforcing them through training, signage, and other administrative controls, ensure you will have smooth operations through your winter months! MGA Industry Training offers a course regarding personal hygiene and Food Safety called SITXFSA001 – Use Hygienic Practices for Food Safety. This course is ideal for any employee working with food (retail, food preparation or café) as it teaches how to avoid crosscontamination through personal hygiene. This unit is level 1 and the first step into a Food Safety Supervisor Course.
