Together, we can keep our workplaces safe
COVID-19 has turned the world of work upside down. At home, employees are hunkered down in their kitchens or basements working on their laptops. On the frontlines, essential workers are carrying out their tasks while keeping a safe distance from customers and coworkers.
These are new ways of working. But they underscore what we all know: Employers and workers both play a role in ensuring health and safety at work.
“It’s important to remember that we all have responsibilities, regardless of where or how the work is being performed,” says Trevor Hall, director, human resources, Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB). “Employers need to work with employees in assessing, and responding to, the health and safety risks in their new, or altered, work environments.”
PRACTISE SAFE ERGONOMICS AT
HOME
For workers who have been sent home to work, employers should ensure that they not only have the equipment they need to do their jobs, but that they also practise safe ergonomics. This includes checking posture regularly, addressing discomfort and making changes that allow the body to remain in a neutral position while performing tasks. It’s also important for athome workers to take brief stretching breaks during the day and have a safety checklist that takes into account lighting and other electrical considerations in their workplace set-up.
Essential businesses and services that remain open during the pandemic need to adopt even more robust health and safety precautions, says Hall. These measures include implementing physical distancing (ensuring people remain at least two metres apart), limiting the number of customers on the premises, staggering shifts and ensuring that staff who feel unwell stay home.
Employers must also be scrupulous about hygiene. That means enhancing cleaning and sanitization of high-contact areas and ensuring public washrooms are stocked with soap and paper towels. Staff should wash their hands for at least 20 seconds, cough or sneeze into their elbows and avoid touching their faces.
Once employers have put controls in place (often with input from occupational health and safety committee members), they need to monitor them, making adjustments, if necessary. “COVID-19 is a fluid situation and things are changing daily,” says Annette Goski, director, prevention, at the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board. “It’s important to keep up to date and make sure that clear communication is relayed to workers as organizations adapt to those changes.”
Like other organizations, the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board is developing its own best practices in response to the outbreak. “We’re working with staff to identify and resolve new safety risks and challenges in workspaces that are often less than ideal and beyond our direct influence,” says Goski. “Employee safety is dependent on everyone doing their part.”
PROTECTING PSYCHOLOGICAL
HEALTH
This is also a time to consider the psychological health and safety of all staff since many people are suffering anxiety and high stress levels due to potential job loss, working remotely and family pressures.
“During this outbreak, we’re so focused on protecting our physical health, but we also need to be mindful of protecting our psychological health,” says Goski. She recommends that employees have daily ‘check-ins’ with their team members, particularly if they’re working remotely. “It’s important for all to have someone they can reach out to and resources they can access.”
Employers may want to tap into the services of occupational therapists, ergonomists and other professionals who can provide virtual assessments and other assistance. It’s also a good idea to read the daily COVID-19 updates at saskatchewan.ca and on Government of Saskatchewan social media accounts for regularly updated information.
As we adapt to the challenges of COVID-19, it is important to remember the lessons learned from this pandemic. Good hygiene practices need to continue such as 20 seconds of hand washing, and sneezing and coughing into your elbow – something everyone should always be doing. Companies will be more motivated than ever to make sure they have solid emergency preparedness and pandemic plans in place so they are ready for any future events that may occur.
Find additional resources for coping with COVID-19 at