PREPAREDNESS FOR BUSINESSES AND HOMES
OFFICE ENVIRONMENT
17.1 Maintaining a clean office environment is one of our best defenses.
17.2 The environment cleanliness integrity of the office will be compromised by sick persons and carriers (those who have the virus but do not suffer symptoms) entering the office and depositing the virus on surfaces and in the air, where it waits for susceptible persons to pick up.
17.3 The environment cleanliness integrity of the office may also be compromised by faulty or inadequate air ventilation systems which can carry the virus from one office to another.
17.4 In order to maintain a sterile office environment thoroughly examine these weaknesses and implement whatever measures are necessary to plus the holes in your office defenses.
17.5
Air
ventilation and filter effectiveness
17.5.1 There is scientific and medical evidence that influenza can spread in inadequately ventilated environment internal spaces. It is recommended that all internal spaces should be well ventilated, preferably by fresh air via opening windows, or otherwise by properly designed and maintained air-conditioning systems.
17.5.2 As part of their workplace health and safety monitoring, employers should gain assurance from the owner of any air conditioned building they occupy that air conditioning systems are maintained regularly and to the appropriate standard.
17.5.3 Do not underestimate the importance of proper and adequate air filtering systems. There is little point in having an effective visitor monitoring system to keep sickness out of the office environment when the virus is entering the offices through the ventilation system.
17.6
Office
cleaning methods
17.6.1 As mentioned in Managing Ill Employees, quiz your office cleaning contractor or building management company as to what additional cleaning measures they will undertake during a Bird Flu pandemic outbreak.
17.6.2 If necessary deploy supplemental cleaning of high traffic touch surfaces (such as lift buttons and door knobs) with frequent cleaning and disinfecting.
17.7
Pantry
for shared crockery/cutlery
17.7.2 Remove any shared crockery and cutlery from pantry areas.
17.7.2 Individuals who use their own crockery (coffee mugs) and cutlery should store them themselves and thoroughly clean them after use.
17.7.3 Visitors can be offered refreshments using paper or plastic cups which should be disposed of after use.
17.8
Reception
for newspapers & magazines
17.8.1 Remove any newspapers and magazines from reception areas. These items are handled by multiple visitors and are an ideal medium (especially glossy magazine covers) for the virus to remain whilst waiting for susceptible persons to pick up.
17.8.2 If your business uses communal newspapers (ie. one newspaper is ordered and shared amongst several individuals) then either cancel this facility or order one newspaper per person (at least for the duration of the outbreak).
17.8.3 Individuals who have their own newspaper should keep it to themselves and dispose of it after use.
17.9
Arrangements
for identifying visitors/staff who have symptoms.
17.9.1 Consider practical ways of identifying if persons attempting to enter the office have symptoms. Thermal Imaging Cameras such as those in use at airports are not expensive, however this may not be practical for your office entrance environment.
17.9.2 Notices coupled with a 'visual check' by a receptionist may suffice provided door locking mechanisms are in place which keeps visitors out until they have been quizzed and checked before letting them in.
17.10
Have all visitors wear fresh face masks.
17.10.1 For visitors who pass the visual check and are allowed to enter the office environment, provide each one with a fresh face mask which they must keep on for the duration of their visit.
17.10.2 For those on an extended visit to the office must be required to don fresh face masks frequently as face masks which become damp through breathing are no longer effective.
17.10.3 Dispose of used face masks in a sealed bag or envelope.
17.11
Use
'visitor checked' stickers
17.11.1 Visitors allowed into the office should be given a 'visitor checked' sticker to be displayed conspicuously at all times.
17.11.2 Visitors without such a sticker must be challenged and checked immediately before being allowed to resume their business.
17.12
Put
delivery drop-off outside office
17.12.1 Put your delivery/drop off box outside of the office so that delivery/collection personnel do not enter the office environment.
17.12.2 All items dropped off should be wiped using alcohol wipes or any other method of disinfection to ensure sterilisation.
17.13
Remote
door lock installation
17.13.1 For security reasons most modern offices have a remote door locking/unlocking device which allows receptionists to unlock the doors from their desks.
17.13.2 If you office does not have a remote door locking/unlocking devise then consider installation of one.
17.13.3 Visitors and other persons trying to enter the office environment should not be allowed to freely walk in without being checked.
17.14 Employees should be advised not to come to work when they are feeling unwell, particularly if they are exhibiting any influenza symptoms. It may be helpful to inform staff of the differences in symptoms between influenza and a common cold. Unwell employees should also be advised to see a doctor. Workers who are ill should stay at home until symptoms resolve.
17.15 Adopt the following guidelines for general sickness prevention in the office:
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Protection measure |
Where applicable |
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Hand hygiene, cough etiquette, ventilation |
Everyone, all the time. |
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Organisational policies |
Every organisation, all the time. |
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Social Distancing |
Everyone, whenever practical. |
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Protective Barriers |
Institutions where regular work practice requires unavoidable relatively close contact with the public. |
|
Disposable Face Masks |
Workers/Visitors in any community |
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| 05/15/2008 04:00 PM |
| Detection Of Mortality Clusters Associated With Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza In Poultry: A Theoretical Analysis |
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Rapid detection of infectious disease outbreaks is often crucial for their effective control. One example is highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) such as H5N1 in commercial poultry flocks. There is no quantitative data, however, on how quickly the effects of HPAI infection in poultry flocks can be detected. Here, we study, using an individual-based mathematical model, time to detection in chicken flocks.
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| 05/05/2008 07:00 PM |
| Learning From The Influenza Virus' Tricks |
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Influenza is currently a grave concern for governments and health organisations around the world. The worry is the potential for highly virulent bird flu strains, such as H5N1, to develop the ability to infect humans easily. New drugs and vaccines to halt the spread of the virus are badly needed.
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| 04/26/2008 01:00 AM |
| Indonesia Runs Large Scale Bird Flu Drill |
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Indonesia is running a large scale drill simulating an outbreak of human to human bird flu that involves thousands of villagers, health workers and government officials, rehearsing for a potential pandemic. The drill started today, Friday 25th April, and is scheduled to run for three days.
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| 04/25/2008 04:00 PM |
| Heading Off A Bird-Flu Pandemic: We Need Broadly Protective Vaccines That Can Be Rapidly Produced And Administered |
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Widespread vaccination likely will be the cornerstone of public-health measures for controlling an H5N1 bird-flu pandemic, say Andrea Gambotto, M.D., assistant professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and his colleagues, in this week's edition of The Lancet. However, any vaccines must be broadly protective and rapidly producible to be effective against H5N1, which is devastating in humans, the authors write in a journal Seminar.
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| 04/18/2008 08:00 PM |
| Identification Of The Common Mechanism Underlying Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome May Lead To New Strategies Against Bird Flu |
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The Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 killed between 30 and 50 million people. In the infected patients, the ultimate cause of death was acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This fatal condition is a massive reaction of the body during which the lung becomes severely damaged. ARDS can be induced by various bacterial and viral infections, but also by chemical agents. These could be toxic gases that are inhaled or gastric acid when aspirated.
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| 04/18/2008 06:00 PM |
| New Vaccine May Give Long-term Defense Against Deadly Bird Flu And Its Variant Forms |
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A new vaccine under development may provide protection against highly pathogenic bird flu and its evolving forms, according to researchers at Purdue University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who discovered the new preventative drug and have tested it in mice.
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