- Monitor public health communications about pandemic flu recommendations and ensure that your employees also have access to that information.
- Work with your employees to designate a person(s), website, bulletin board or other means of communicating important pandemic flu information.
More information about protecting employees and their familiescan be found at: www.pandemicflu.gov.
Workplaces Classified at Medium Exposure
Risk for Pandemic Influenza: What to Do to
Protect Employees
Medium risk workplaces require frequent close contact between employees or with the general public (such as high-volume retail stores). If this contact cannot be avoided, there are practices to reduce the risk of infection. In addition to the basic work practices that every workplace should adopt (see page 26), medium risk occupations require employers to address enhanced safety and health precautions. Below are some of the issues that employers should address when developing plans for workplace safety and health during a pandemic.
Work Practice and Engineering Controls
- Instruct employees to avoid close contact (within 6 feet) with other employees and the general public. This can be accomplished by simply increasing the distance between the employee and the general public in order to avoid contact with large droplets from people talking, coughing or sneezing.
- Some organizations can expand internet, phone-based, drive-through window, or home delivery customer service strategies to minimize face-to-face contact. Work with your employees to identify new ways to do business that can also help to keep employees and customers safe and healthy.
