NOVEMBER SAFETY TOPIC: ILLNESS PREVENTION

Best Practices for Risk Reduction - Monthly 5 Minute Safety Talk

According to the CDC:
• Worldwide it is estimated that there are 3-5 million cases of the flu every year, resulting in 250,000 to 500,000 deaths. The most common causes of work and school absenteeism, with up to 22 million school days lost each year in the U.S. 
• Adults have an average of 2-3 colds per year, with an estimated economic cost of lost productivity in the U.S. approaching $25 billion per year, with $16.6 billion attributed to job productivity loss and $8 billion attributed to absenteeism.
• A relatively modest investment in an effective cleaning and hygiene program can help avoid or significantly reduce the health and economic impacts of seasonal flu and the common cold. Influenza and colds are primarily spread through large droplets that are produced when infected people cough, sneeze, or talk, sending the relatively large infectious droplets and very small sprays (aerosols) into the nearby air and into contact with other people. Large droplets can only travel a limited range; therefore, people should limit close contact (within 6 feet) with others when possible.
• In addition, the cold and flu are also spread by infected individuals touching objects such as doorknobs, elevator buttons, hand rails, and other frequently touched surfaces, thus contaminating the object with viruses. The viruses are then transmitted to another person who touches the same object and then transfers the infected material from their hands to the nose, mouth, or eyes. That is why it is important to clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces. Effective cleaning and disinfecting of environmental surfaces, including "high touch" or frequently touched surfaces (i.e., desks, countertops, faucet handles, doorknobs), significantly decreases the number of environmental pathogens, including influenza and cold viruses, on those surfaces or objects, which in turn reduces the risk of transmission and infection. Routine cleaning removes the soil and dirt that harbors the infectious agents, while disinfecting kills the remaining environmental pathogens.

Typical routes of entry for seasonal illnesses are the eyes, mouth, and nose, and the prevention to take is: 
• Wear PPE such as gloves, eye protection, change gloves often to minimize cross contamination, and wash your hands after removing gloves. 
• Give extra attention to high-touch areas such as desks, doorknobs, drinking dispensers, phones, etc. 
• Minimize contamination of equipment by cleaning and disinfecting. 
• Follow Jani-King cleaning procedures as well as cleaning product instructions.