As flu season is upon us, now is a great time to review your facility’s preparedness plan. With millions of workdays lost each year due to the flu, proactive measures can help minimize its impact on employees, clients and communities. Flu season typically begins in October and can last until May. Since flu viruses are highly contagious, it’s essential for public facilities to have an action plan in place with effective products, procedures and educational materials to reduce the spread and prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) from occurring.
Regardless of strain, being proactive can help minimize the spread of the flu virus. To help prevent infections from spreading across your facility, consider the following tips:
Prepare As Soon As Possible
The flu is a community-based infection and can spread rapidly, so it’s best not to wait until it arrives to start prevention tactics. Review your plan and check inventory to ensure you’re properly stocked with efficacious handwash, hand sanitizer, cleaning products and personal protection equipment (PPE) to help stop the spread of the virus. Review cleaning product labels, check expiration dates and store enough products to maintain a robust, frequent cleaning schedule. Ensure disinfectants are proven to kill viruses, including influenza, norovirus and SARS-CoV-2. In addition, regularly monitor flu activity in your local area.
Enforce Hand Hygiene Compliance
Hand hygiene is a first line of defense to help stop the spread of the flu. Place signage to remind staff and visitors how to correctly wash hands in all handwashing areas. Make sure to place easily accessible handwash and sanitizer dispensers containing effective products throughout the facility. Consider foam formats with built-in moisturizers to help protect the skin from dryness.
Increase Cleaning Frequency
If flu activity ramps up in your area or an outbreak does occur in the facility, increase daytime cleaning frequency. The flu virus can live on some surfaces for 48 hours, so tackling common touchpoints more often with higher cleaning frequency can help reduce HAIs. Review cleaning procedures with environmental services (EVS) staff and ensure they understand application instructions for every product used. Kill claims vary, and most products require a specific dwell time to kill influenza.
Educate Staff and Visitors
Clear communication is essential to fostering flu prevention. Post signs to remind staff and visitors of flu prevention tips, handwashing protocols and steps to take if they feel unwell. Use a mix of visual cues, posters and email reminders to reinforce the importance of hygiene and PPE use.
Encourage Employee Wellness Initiatives
Consider offering flu vaccinations on-site or encouraging employees to get vaccinated. Facilities can also adopt policies that allow employees to stay home when sick without penalty, reducing the likelihood of flu spread in the workplace. Promoting wellness programs and healthy habits throughout flu season can help mitigate the virus’ impact.
Enhance Facility Ventilation
Improving indoor air quality can also reduce flu transmission. Increase ventilation and consider using HEPA filters in areas with higher occupancy. This can help reduce airborne particles, complementing other surface-level cleaning efforts and creating a healthier indoor environment.
While the flu season can feel overwhelming, having a solid plan, effective products, educational resources and detailed procedures in place can ease the burden and reduce the risk of an outbreak.
This content was provided by SC Johnson Professional
