Return to work safely: tips for a contactless workplace

As we all continue working to build a COVID-safe Australia, it’s essential to keep practising physical social distancing and good hygiene to reduce the chances of another outbreak.

Besides, as workers start returning to their jobs, people might confuse this new sense of normalcy with an overall relaxation of social distancing.

Sadly, that’s not the case yet, and we still need to keep our guard up while in the office.

Since we were hoping you could return to work safely, we created this list of tips you can follow. Read on and stay safe.

Why is it important to maintain social distancing when returning to work?

Keep in mind that the risk of COVID-19 is increased when working in close contact with others.

Below, you will find a set of general guidelines for social distancing and some tips for managing a contactless worksite.

General guidelines for social distancing in the office

Here are some guidelines to help you while at the office:

• Regularly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash them with soap and water.
• Maintain at least 1-metre distance between yourself and your coworkers and visitors
• Avoid going to crowded places.
• Avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Cover your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze.
• Stay home and self-isolate even with minor symptoms such as cough, headache, mild fever, until you recover.
• If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention.
• Keep up to date on the latest information about COVID-19 from trusted sources.

Tips for a post-COVID-19 contactless worksite

The risk of COVID-19 exposure is increased when working in close contact with others. Where possible, practice physical distancing and don’t rush to hug your coworkers yet. We know that’s sad, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

These are some tips you should consider when reopening your worksite.

• Redesign the workplace layout, so every worker respects social distancing.
• Try to hold as many non-face-to-face meetings as possible.
• Manage queues and workers and visitors’ sign-in, so they don’t overlap.
• Reduce the number of people in common areas.
• Ensure that each worker has its own tools or equipment.
• Leave time between appointments to limit physical interactions.

For Australian businesses, Safe Work Australia has a plethora of industry-specific information you can check on their website.

Now that we know how to stay safe in the workplace let’s take a look at how Sine can assist you with that.

7 Ways Sine assists you in your road to a contactless office

Visitor management systems like Sine enable workplaces to enforce their security protocols effectively. There are many things that businesses concerned with their on-site safety can do to protect their workers, evaluate risks, and prescreen visitors without contact.

Here are some features of Sine that can help you keep your worksite happy, productive, and COVID-19 free.

Reducing the number of surfaces both employees and visitors touch

Contactless inductions present a simple way of inducting contractors to your work site without having to print many sheets of paper, waste time or require contractors to touch any surface.

The difference between traditional inductions and contactless ones is that contactless inductions are done through the Sine Pro mobile app instead of printed sheets of paper.

You can create a workflow to speed the induction process and prepare your contractors even before they set foot on your worksite.

Streamlining processes for managing essential workers and visitors

By now, you know that you can use Sine to send invites to workers, contractors, and visitors. Sine prompts you to fill out some essential information about your visitor, along with a link to your workplace’s check-in form.

You could also just prompt all your visitors and contractors to fill out a check-in form when they arrive on-site. Still, we advise you to prescreen workers online with our prescreen feature before they go to your workplace.

For example, using Sine Workflows, you can send the prescreening questions to your visitors before they arrive on-site, streamlining your processes.

Contact tracing who has been in the site and when

Contact tracing is a key element of a safe return to work after COVID-19. Contact tracing gives you the ability to halt the chain of transmission of COVID-19, and slow community spread when a case is identified.

Contactless check-in with Sine offers a simple way of tracking every staff member, visitor and contractor on your worksite.

For instance, if a suspected case of COVID-19 is identified, Sine’s reporting and analytics can not only tell you when that person was on-site but also every other person who was on your worksite at the same time which they could have come into contact with.

Enabling facial recognition for returning visitors

A visitor management system with facial recognition capabilities can easily show you where your guests and staff are at all times.

Plus, you can print easy-to-identify badges that show authorized areas of access and the badge’s expiration time. Similarly, with the help of Face Check and our analytics tool, workers can use their face to check-in and out of their office and their check-in time and out time, making payroll more accurate.

Creating QR codes for contactless access

The QR code is a new version of the bar code, and it’s faster and much more reliable than legacy bar codes. To use a QR code, you only need two things: a smartphone and an app, like Sine, that converts that image into usable information.

You can create a QR code for your visitors and share it with them so they can complete their contactless check-in to your worksite.

You can also offer QR code posters. A poster with a QR code in your lobby can help you keep check-in contactless even for those people who forgot to check-in before coming to your worksite.

Setting a geofence for contactless inductions and visitor approval

A geofence is an invisible boundary around your workplace that helps you gain visibility over everything that happens within it.

Setting a geofence can help you monitor your employees’ location, and lets you know who is really on your site and who’s taking an unannounced day off.

With a geofence, you gain a clear picture of your site. It enables you to see details and data you would typically miss and ask questions to your workers before they enter.

Looking to reopen safely after COVID-19? Find out more about Sine’s comprehensive suite of visitor, contractor and staff management solutions here or schedule a demo with our team to see how Sine can help you.

Originally published at https://www.sine.co on July 13, 2020.