By Clare Moore
Things we’ve learned this cold and flu season: germs can live up to 48 hours on hard surface (e.g. the counter in the staff kitchen), the dirtiest area at work is your computer and phone (possibly followed by the elevator and photocopier) and “germ warfare” is the best plan of attack.
Unless you work at home in your pajamas, you’ll need to take precautions at work.
It's All the Rage: Toronto Public Health's marketing campaign for this year's cold and flu season
Cough and Sneeze Etiquette
In the olden days people always had a hankie up their sleeves. These days, the health professionals coach us to sneeze and cough into the crooks of our elbows. As the folks at Toronto Public Health have so neatly put it, “Do the Sleeve Sneeze.” Then go disinfect yourself.
The No-Brainer: Wash Your Hands
Now go wash them again. You know this, but are you doing this most basic of habits properly? Canada’s Public Health Agency has advice. For starters, it’s the mechanical motion of washing, not the antibacterial qualities of some kinds of soap, that makes a difference. We like Public Health’s tip number seven on teaching children responsible hand washing. “Have them sing a song like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star while rubbing their hands together to teach them the amount of time it takes to clean their hands properly.” Try it with co-workers and let us know how it goes.
The Cost of Presenteeism
Presenteeism is the opposite of absenteeism and studies suggest it might be as much of a problem to companies.Blame it on the age of over-sharing: it’s estimated that one cold multiplies to 10 when it is brought into the office. Some companies are proactive. Cohn & Wolfe, a Toronto communications company, are giving employees smart-phones and laptops to work from home, the Globe and Mail reported. Concern about the flu, one Cohn & Wolfe vice-president told the paper that his firm has “accelerated plans for portable communications.” In other words, its staff are holed up on the couch in their PJs while thumbing through emails on their BlackBerrys.
Know Your Rights
Some employees without benefits worry that staying home will threaten job security has led to a call for legal protection in some provinces. The Alberta Federation of Labour, for instance, is meeting with the provincial minister of employment and immigration to change legislation so it better protects workers. In Nova Scotia, meanwhile, there is proposed legislation requiring an employer to protect your job while you are on sick leave.
For guidance on your rights, look up the Ministry of Labour in your province or individual health and safety organizations. For example, in Ontario, workers are covered under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The feds, meanwhile, have guidelines for a range of workplaces covered under the Canada Labour Code, Part II.
You Are What You Eat
Which means that, right now, most of us are little miniature chocolate bars. Put down that leftover Halloween candy and eat healthier food. An apple a day might not completely be responsible for keeping H1N1 away, but it doesn’t hurt. U
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I liked the comment that barring physical contact (hugging, etc.) by the IOC at the Vancouver Olympics will do nothing for speed skaters moving furiously in a competitor’s slipstream to bar the transmission of an airborne virus.
What’s all the fuss about H1N1? It’s nowhere near as bad as the regular flu.
motivating staff…
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