Break the workplace sickness cycle by preventing cross contamination

Read more about breaking the workplace sickness cycle by preventing cross contamination with workplace hygiene protocols that incorporate hand hygiene solutions. 

This winter season South African businesses have faced a sickness cycle unlike that of the last few years. Since mid-April, South Africa has recorded a spike in new Covid-19 infections driven by Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, and it’s also the first winter in three years when stringent Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and related preventive measures haven’t curbed the spread of the respiratory pathogens.

Contagious diseases, from influenza and COVID-19, to monkeypox don’t seem to be disappearing any time soon. This is why preventing the cross-contamination which leads to illnesses spreading is such an important part of creating safer, healthier working environments for employees.  

Businesses need to be doing more to prevent cross contamination, not only by regularly sanitising both hands and high-traffic work surfaces, but also by prioritising good indoor air quality. Access to well-equipped and clean bathrooms is also no longer negotiable.  Implementing best-practice hygiene can prevent the spread of illness and break the workplace sickness cycle.

Business benefits of improved hygiene

High rates of illness in the workplace, particularly when large numbers of people are sick at the same time, can have a devastating impact on business, from increased sick leave and absenteeism to reduced productivity, and emotional exhaustion and burnout amongst staff due to increased workload.

We’ve written extensively about the cost of absenteeism to your business, as well as the associated costs of presenteeism, and what your business can do to break this cycle. 

Hygiene awareness has increased 

Business owners and managers should also be aware that the last 2 years have seen people become increasingly savvy about hygiene. For our Global Hygiene Reset Report we carried out one of the largest global hygiene surveys to focus on the impact that COVID-19 has had on hygiene attitudes and behaviours – reaching 20,000 respondents in 20 countries around the world – including South Africa.

Our research revealed that in South Africa clean hands are more important to people than ever: 

• 83% of people surveyed wash their hands more frequently when in public indoor spaces as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,
• 84% of people said they wash their hands more frequently now to protect themselves from common viruses such as the common cold, influenza and norovirus than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic,
• 82% of people surveyed said they are likely to wash their hands more frequently in future to protect themselves from common viruses.

South African employees expect more from their employers: 

Interestingly, South African respondents had the strongest response out of all the countries to the question “how important is it to you that your employer prioritise a safe and hygienic workplace?”  89% of those respondents who work in a shared workplace/building said it’s very important that their employer prioritises creating a safe and hygienic workplace. This rises to 92% of female respondents and drops slightly to 86% of male respondents, but was by far the top response across all gender and age splits in our survey.

So when you put these responses together, you can see that business owners and managers would do well to ensure that they are providing hand washing, sanitising, and drying solutions for employees! And that doing so is critical in meeting both employee expectations and business objectives. 

In addition, employers would do well to note that: 

• 78% of people surveyed who work in a shared workplace would raise their concerns to their employer if their employer cannot demonstrate their place of work is clean and hygienic
• Over half (53%) of respondents said that they would ask to work from home. This is largely consistent across the various demographics.

Businesses affected by the sickness cycle and absenteeism should be considering devices that also decontaminate the air. Hand dryers with HEPA filters, such as Initial’s new Luna Dry, can ensure that once hands have been properly washed, they are also dried with HEPA filtered air, making sure that optimal hygiene levels are achieved and the risk of cross-contamination is eliminated.

Watch our Luna video below for more on the benefits of a hand dryer with a built-in HEPA filter.

Ultimately, the creation of healthier, safer work environments positively impacts the well-being and mental acuity of staff, reduces their time away from work due to illness, and increases productivity, staff retention, and satisfaction. 

As high rates of absenteeism continue to affect staff, customers and businesses in South Africa, the return on investment delivered by a long-term hygiene strategy cannot be underestimated.  Contact the experts at Initial today to discuss hand washing, drying, and sanitising solutions for your business, and break the workplace sickness cycle.