COVID-19 prevention steps every office must take after the lockdown

Before organising any meetings, conferences and events, the following measures should be taken:

• Check with local authorities and healthcare providers if the venue of the meeting or its location is safe for the same.
• With digital means now at everyone’s fingertips, ask yourself if a physical meeting is absolutely necessary or will a tele or video conference achieve the same ends without it.
• If the physical meeting is absolutely necessary, limit the number of attendees to minimise the risk of infections.
• Keep hygiene supplies like tissues, sanitizers, etc. ready for use well in advance for the event. Keep masks or face covers ready for anybody who might have respiratory difficulties during a meeting.
• Collect the contact details, health status, address, emergency contact, etc of every attendee and organiser of the event. Inform everybody that these details will be shared with healthcare professionals in case of an emergency during the event.
• Develop a response plan in case somebody falls sick during the event. A room where a patient can be safely isolated, a plan for their transfer to a hospital, etc should be available. 
• In case an attendee tests positive you should have a response plan ready to get everybody else who attended the meeting to be isolated at home, checked up by medical professionals, etc.

The following measures must be taken during the meeting, conference or event planned at or by your office:

• Provide both a written and oral briefing to all attendees about all the measures taken to prevent the risk of COVID-19 and other infections. The information should have a reassuring tone.
• Encourage all attendees to comply with all the necessary preventive measures like regular hand washing, respiratory hygiene, etc.
• Encourage participants to not shake hands, but greet each other verbally or with a namaste.
• Display hand sanitizers, soap and tissue vending machines at prominent locations of the venue and make sure they’re refilled regularly.
• Ask attendees to report any discomfort or ill-health immediately, and provide them with the emergency helpline number in case they need it as well.
• Keep one metre distance between all seats, and ask all attendees to maintain physical distance while engaging socially and professionally.
• Open all doors and windows to make sure the venue is properly ventilated.
• Thank all attendees for their participation and compliance with all the preventive measures in advance.

The following measures must be taken after the meeting, conference or event planned at or by your office is done:

• Keep the contact information of all attendees at hand for at least a month. This will help healthcare professionals conduct proper contact tracing if an attendee tests positive for COVID-19 or any other infection after the event is done.
• If someone at the event was isolated due to ill-health or symptoms of COVID-19, inform all other attendees and ask everybody to monitor themselves for symptoms, take their temperature twice a day, and take absolute care for 14 days.
• If attendees develop any symptoms of COVID-19 or any other infection after the event, they should self-isolate and inform the organizers so that the information can be disseminated and preventive measures be taken by all.
• Thanks all participants all over again for their compliance with all preventive measures.

The following precautions must be taken before travelling anywhere for work by all employers and employees:

• Assess the benefits and risks of travelling to any location based on latest and accurate information about COVID-19 and other disease outbreaks.
• Avoid imposing travel on employees who might be at a higher risk of diseases, like older employees or ones who suffer from heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, hypertension, etc.
• Make sure all personnel who are travelling are properly briefed about health risks, preventive measures, contact details for local healthcare professionals, etc.
• Consider issuing protective and hygiene equipment for employees about to travel, like hand sanitizers, tissues, etc to promote compliance with preventive measures.

The following precautions must be taken by all travelling employees, and by their employers as well:

• Encourage employees to maintain at least one metre distance from everyone else at all times.
• Ensure employees wash hands regularly and maintain respiratory hygiene throughout the trip.
• Make sure the employees know whom to contact for help in case of a medical emergency during travelling for work.
• Ensure that employees comply with health advisories, protocols, etc of the host location’s authorities.

After the travel for work is done and the employee returns, the following steps must be taken:

• Employees returning from an area where COVID-19 had spread or have current cases of COVID-19 should monitor themselves for symptoms for 14 days, and take temperature twice every day.
• If said employees develop mild symptoms like cough, mild fever, etc. they should self-isolate at home after calling their public healthcare provider. The employee should maintain a distance from their family members, monitor health status properly and inform healthcare services if the condition worsens.