OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

BACK TO WORK

New policies, processes and applications offer ways for people to return to work securely, says RODNEY WEIDEMANN

Although the global pandemic remains ever-present, people are starting to return to work, at least part of the time. Under the circumstances, occupational health and safety (OHS) principles need to take pole position.

Louise Woodburn, GM at KBC Risk Solutions, says that companies must have, at minimum, clear OHS policies and procedures around what they should or should not do. By this, she says, she means being consistent with policies such as not allowing employees over the age of 60 back into the offi ce, for example.

“The fi rst point is to decide which employees can return, and then how this can be enabled. This involves implementing the relevant controls and measures – such as placing protective screens between offi ce desks – to ensure their safety.

“Companies must also adopt measures like regular cleaning and sanitising of surfaces and areas,” she explains. “And, they must understand how often this needs to be done to maintain safety. Essentially, you cannot consider individual parts in isolation – it is imperative to ensure that all parts of the system work and that they all fi t together properly.”

Woodburn adds that it is also important to educate employees about personal hygiene. Organisations need to ensure employees understand why they are washing their hands regularly, how masks impact transmission and so on.

“Other things that need to be factored in are issues like the psychological effect of having to wear a mask for eight hours a day,” Woodburn says. “Furthermore, organisations must review and update emergency evacuation plans to avoid a situation where an emergency could lead to dozens of people crowding into one small area. Ultimately, what the pandemic has taught us about OHS is that we need to more effectively embed such practices and processes into the structures of businesses.”

INSTANT VITALS

It is also critical to ensure that employees returning to the offi ce are not bringing in COVID-19. This is where artifi cial intelligence-based applications come to the fore. These monitor vital signs in real-time, making it easy to determine infection status.

“These wellness applications already exist to facilitate telemedicine and remote healthcare solutions, so it doesn’t take much to adapt this technology to assist industries and enterprises to safely reopen during the ongoing pandemic,” says Quentin Daffarn, MD at UC Wireless.

“These apps utilise a smartphone’s camera to process wavelength measurements of blood vessels directly under the skin to detect an increase in heart and respiratory rate and hypoxia – the desaturation of oxygen in haemoglobin. These signs, along with a high temperature, can indicate the presence of COVID-19.”

Daffarn says that testing a subject’s core temperature as well as their heart and respiratory rate will deliver a far more accurate assessment. It also helps to negate the challenge of people claiming they have no symptoms when they know they may have demonstrated some.

“Properly used, these AI-based apps should enable businesses to address several issues relating to lockdown and partial business closures – helping us to strike a balance between keeping industries and businesses open and staying ahead of an evolving disease,” he concludes.

“ORGANISATIONS MUST REVIEW AND UPDATE EMERGENCY EVACUATION PLANS TO AVOID A SITUATION WHERE AN EMERGENCY COULD LEAD TO DOZENS OF PEOPLE

CROWDING INTO ONE SMALL AREA.” – LOUISE WOODBURN, KBC RISK SOLUTIONS

KEEPING YOUR DOCUMENTATION IN ORDER

As people return to the offi ce, it has become vital for companies and personnel to securely capture, store, manage and distribute document compliance information online and in real-time.

Ingrid Osborne of the Saryx Engineering Group explains that a cloud-based solution providing a transparent, collaborative workfl ow platform, which is accessible on any device from anywhere and at any time, is needed.

“Staying compliant can be tough, as it is not always easy to remember when documents need to be fi led or even which documents your business needs for such purposes. We have developed our Health, Safety, Environment and Community (HSEC) Online solution to keep businesses aware of exactly what needs to be done to remain compliant. For example, what documents need to be fi led and when and where they must go,” she says.

“HSEC Online is fl exible enough to help an SME control everything, from legal issues, PPE management, audits and risk management to all the required documentation around emergency procedures and organisational safety policies, safely and securely.”