How to Reopen Your Small Business Safely

How to Reopen Your Small Business Safely Despite COVID-19 Pandemic- GRAND CITY INVESTMENT LIMITED

How to Reopen Your Small Business Safely

As entrepreneurs, small business owners are used to setting goals and solving problems. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many small businesses into the unenviable position of deciding when to reopen—and how to do it safely. Even when the regulations of your state or locality permit reopening, the details are complex and not always clear. Small business owners have to problem-solve and make their own plans to keep employees and customers safe. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a useful decision tree that can help you think through the overall issues.

If you decide to move forward, here are some things to keep in mind to help you reopen your small business safely, including workplace safely advice from the CDC. It also has guidelines directed specifically toward small businesses that owners and managers should carefully review.

By now, everyone has heard of social distancing—when you stay at least six feet away from other people, stay away from crowded places, and avoid gathering in groups. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that “limiting face-to-face contact with others is the best way to reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).”

While social distancing is a proven and effective way to slow the spread of COVID-19, it can be difficult to maintain in the workplace. Still, social distancing is the new norm and will be for the foreseeable future. Depending on your workspace, here are some ways to help employees and customers keep a safe distance

• Rethink desks, displays, and workspaces to create more distance.
• Move some staff to different workstations or stagger work hours to limit the number of workers in one area at any given time.
• Limit the number of seats in common areas.
• In places where workers or customers wait in lines, use tape to mark six-foot intervals.
• Place signs or use announcements to remind workers and customers to maintain social distance.
• Manage breakrooms to limit the number of people who gather at one time.
• Encourage workers to skip previously customary greetings like handshakes, hugs, and cheek-kisses.
• Post signs outside the office or shop that advise people not to enter if they’ve had COVID-19 symptoms or have been in contact with someone who has been infected.

According to the CDC, COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact for a prolonged period. It spreads when an infected person (who may or may not have symptoms) coughs, sneezes, or talks and launches droplets into the air, which can infect other people.

It’s also possible to get COVID-19 if you touch something that has the virus and then touch your own mouth, nose, or eyes. COVID-19 can live on surfaces for hours or even days, depending on factors like humidity and sunlight.

While social distancing is the best way to slow the spread of the virus, it’s also essential to bump up your efforts to maintain a clean and sanitary workplace. Start by installing signs to encourage workers to wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds (about as long as it takes to sing the Happy Birthday song twice):

• When they get to work
• After they sneeze, cough, or blow their nose
• Before and after eating
• Before and after touching their eyes, nose, and mouth
• After they interact with coworkers and customers
• After they touch displays and other equipment
• After they visit the restroom or take breaks

When handwashing isn’t practical, encourage workers to use hand sanitizer. It’s a good idea to make hand sanitizer available to workers, customers, and visitors. If you don’t have them already, install hand sanitizer dispensers in common areas, at workstations, and anywhere people are likely to interact or touch surfaces that could be contaminated with the virus. lease sblc, standby letter of credit providers worldwide, lease bg, lease bank guarantee provider, international bank guarantee providers, #RealSBLCProvidersworldwide, #leasestandbyletterofcredit, #leasebg, #realbankguaranteeprovider, #internationalbankguaranteeproviders

It’s always smart to maintain a clean workspace, but it’s especially important now. Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at least once a day—and much more frequently in high-traffic areas such as check-out counters in a store or the counter of your office’s kitchen and break areas.

Be sure to clean doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, tables, desks, keyboards, remote controls, elevator buttons, toilets (including handles), faucets, sinks, cash registers/point of sale (POS), displays, business equipment, and phones. Encourage workers to clean their personal phones, too, as well as any other equipment they bring from home into the workplace.

Of course, all these cleaning and disinfecting supplies can be dangerous if not used properly. Be sure to provide guidelines for using them safely and provide the proper equipment—such as gloves and masks—and adequate ventilation to limit chemical exposure. Better yet, hire professional cleaners who already have safety systems in place.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has offered limited guidance in terms of keeping employees safe during the COVID-19 emergency and will use non-formal procedures to handle complaints about “non-healthcare and non-emergency response establishments.”

Depending on the state where your small business is located, you may be required to supply your team with masks and other types of PPE—personal protective equipment—such as gloves. Even if your state doesn’t have any requirements, your workers may still want you to provide such equipment. Either way, it will be up to you to make a policy that addresses guidelines that answer the who, what, when, where, why, and how of PPE usage—including how your business will:

• Obtain the necessary equipment in a timely manner
• Train workers to use the equipment effectively and safely
• Clean and store the equipment
• Deal with workers who don’t want to comply

Obviously, PPE is more vital in certain settings than others. If your workplace isn’t public-facing and your workers are spread out, you may need less rigorous guidelines than if you’re reopening a crowded retail shop or food service location.

Note, however, that the CDC Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers specifies: “Encourage workers to wear a cloth face covering at work if the hazard assessment has determined that they do not require PPE, such as a respirator or medical facemask for protection.” It goes on to elaborate: “CDC recommends wearing a cloth face covering as a measure to contain the wearer’s respiratory droplets and help protect their co-workers and members of the general public,” and note that “wearing a cloth face covering…does not replace the need to practice social distancing.”

One of the biggest challenges that large-city businesses now face is how to keep workers safe during the commute. It’s nearly impossible to adhere to the CDC’s recommended six-foot distance on a crowded bus, train, or subway. Some companies are looking into subsidizing workers’ car payments or leases to encourage private transport, while others are in the market for satellite offices outside of city centers. If you’re a small business, however, these options may not be feasible.

It’s likely that some (or all) of your workers have worked from home (WFH) since the lockdown started—and that some would like to continue to do so, especially if they don’t feel safe returning to the workplace. Now’s the time to develop a policy for how you’ll handle operations if people want to keep working from home.

You may already have set up systems for conducting business online (think: Zoom, Slack, Skype, Facetime, and the like). Think about what you need going forward and how to maintain and support these functionalities. It’s also a good time to work on long-term plans to make it easier to shift to a WFH setup next time around.

It may seem like a smart safety measure to take your workers’ temperatures before they enter the workplace. However, managing the practice is easier said than done because it introduces three potential problems:

• How do you keep the biometric data private once you gather it?
• How do you compensate workers who have to wait in line to be tested?
• How do you maintain social distancing while workers wait in line?

Being an entrepreneur is never easy, but the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a whole new level of problem-solving for small businesses. When it’s time to reopen your business, taking these steps can help ensure you’re doing everything possible to protect yourself, your workers, and your customers.

Grand City Investment Limited is a Hong Kong based Financial Services Provider that was incorporated on MAY 29, 1984 with Company Registration No. 0137353.