Healthy Practices to Prevent Illness in the Workplace
Minimizing the spread of infectious diseases in the workplace is important.
Wash hands often and thoroughly.
Minimizing the spread keeps staff safe and well at work. An infectious disease in the workplace is a workplace hazard.
Healthy practices to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the workplace include:
- Wash hands often and thoroughly. As stated earlier in this course, hand hygiene is a primary measure for reducing the risk of transmitting infection from person-to-person.
- Keep workspaces and frequently touched surfaces clean. Pathogens can live on some surfaces for up to three days. Doorknobs and refrigerator handles are some of the most frequently touched surfaces. It is important to keep surfaces clean to prevent the spread of pathogens in the workplace.
- Cover your coughs and sneezes. Cough or sneeze into your elbow rather than into your hands.
- Avoid touching your face. Pathogens can enter your body through your eyes, nose, and mouth. Hand-to-face contact occurs approximately 16 times per hour. Touching your face can increase the risk of becoming ill.
- Be prepared and informed. For example, individuals usually get the flu vaccination during flu season to reduce the risk of getting ill.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
3-4. What should you do if you need to cough or sneeze?
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