Swine Flu, Workplace Air Pollution And Employee Health: An Inseparable Trio.

Swine Flu, Workplace Air Pollution And Employee Health: An Inseparable Trio.
Swine flu headlines are gone but many businesses are flooded with calls from “pandemic preparedness” consultants, offering high-priced advice for low-value solutions that, in many cases, aren’t even necessary.
– by Isaac Rudik

The news media was all agog the last few months over the possibility of a swine flu pandemic sweeping the globe. While much of the coverage was blown way out of proportion – another example of much sound and fury signifying little – it inadvertently highlighted a connection between the H1N1 flu strain, workplace air pollution and employee health. In many respects, they are an inseparable combination.

Even with screaming headlines and yammering jackals on cable news fading into memory, many businesses are still being flooded with calls and visits from so-called “pandemic preparedness” consultants, offering high-priced advice for low-value solutions that, in many cases, aren’t even necessary.

Why?

Businesses with adequate air pollution prevention solutions in place are well on their way to having a plan to prepare for a pandemic, no matter how unlikely. The common thread is preventing “bad” air particles from circulating in the workplace and avoiding emitting these same particles into the outside air. There’s just one difference between what companies do to control air pollution and containing the spread of a deadly flu virus: Pollution sources are machines and processes while preventing germs from spreading also involve what employees do.

Easy Steps

The first step is to have an infection control plan in place – just in case. After all, a plant may never have a fire but it has an evacuation plan, and common sense dictates the same for situations such as a wide-spread, possibly deadly, flu.

The first step should be using HEPA filters.

A HEPA filter is easily installed in a workplace. There are available in countless models, sizes and price ranges. For example, Air Exchangers offers models ranging from the very basic to the gold standard deluxe, depending on a company’s specific situation and need. Like all HEPA filters, Air Exchangers offers specific benefits to a company:

• It reduces waste from disposing of used masks and gloves.
• It reduces the cost of buying cases of N95 approved medical mask; each pack contains 20 masks and sells for $199 but there is a six-to-eight week delay because of the swine flu scare.
• Meanwhile, employees work in comfort because they don’t have to wear masks or gloves.
• They’re designed for indoor installation.
• They save operating costs by decreasing electrical energy consumption and reducing the use of heating equipment considerably.
• Most major parts can be replaced within seven minutes, meaning little downtime.

At the same time, reminding workers to wash their hands thoroughly and frequently during flu season is the first line of defence against a workplace being felled by flu.

Beyond The Obvious

Telling workers to wash their hands may seem obvious but few companies bother doing it, figuring adults know how to wash. They may, but they may not wash regularly.

But there are also easy-to-implement ideas that go beyond the obvious.
• Provide hand sanitizers, boxes of tissues and encourage their use.
• Remind staff to not share cups, glasses, dishes and cutlery, and ensure they are washed in soap and hot water after each use.
• Remove magazines and papers from waiting areas or common areas.
• Clean an employee’s workstation if they have an identified influenza
• Ensure ventilation systems work properly.

Whether or not Ontario suffers a swine – or other – flu pandemic during the next flu season, it makes sense to do some simple, low-cost things now to ensure that there isn’t a major problem down the road.




Isaac Rudik is a compliance consultant with Compliance Solutions Canada Inc. (www.compliancesolutionscanada.com), Canada’s largest provider of health, safety and environmental compliance solutions to industrial, institutional and government facilities.

E-mail Isaac at irudik@csc-inc.ca or phone him at 905-761-5354.

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