Office Designs for a Post-COVID World

As we head back into the office, some organizations are putting heavy emphasis on the health and safety of their employees and customers. So how can we best protect ourselves from COVID?

Here are 5 Key Office Policies to Maximize COVID Protection:

CHALLENGE:

Maintaining 6 feet distance from one another reduces the risk of virus transmission.

SOLUTION:

• Clear indications of spatial awareness through patterns on the floor.
• Erecting partitions to clearly separate zones and seating arrangements.
• Putting up signs / posters on public walls to remind people of social distancing.

CHALLENGE:

Reduce COVID spread through breathing.

SOLUTION:

• Replan airflow to achieve one-way air movement - moving from clean to less clean. This reduces the probability of people inhaling less clean air.
• Installing upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation kills viruses, bacteria, and fungal organisms. UV-C energy is the best as it poses the least risk to human health. Most suitable for public spaces, where it might be difficult to maintain social distancing.
• Install larger air-handling units with high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, which removes 90-95% of bacteria and small particles.

CHALLENGE:

Reducing COVID spread through physical touch.

SOLUTION:

• Clean - Remove dirt, germs and impurities on surfaces
• Disinfect - Use EPA-registered disinfectants to kill germs and viruses on surfaces.
• Sanitize - Reduces the number of germs on surfaces or objects to a safe and optimum level.

CHALLENGE:

Reduce COVID spread through physical touch.

SOLUTION:

• Replacing traditional door handles with either a foot tap - StepNpull - or motion sensors eliminates the need for people to touch door handles. The fewer the public surfaces people touch, the better we are protected.
• Installing touchless soap dispensers minimizes the risk of contracting or spreading germs, bacterias, and viruses.

CHALLENGE:

Verifying people entering the office/contract tracing.

SOLUTION:

Setting up a check-in area at the front desk (and all other entrances) → with MySejahtera and temperature check.

CHALLENGE:

Avoid overcrowding.

SOLUTION:

• By installing heat sensors to detect crowd density, management can be notified to breakup the crowd when needed.
• Rethink traffic flow (direction) in high traffic common areas to one-way, instead of two way by Intentional placement of furniture/storage units, erecting boundaries to cue people not to go across certain areas and place directional wayfinding signage to indicate the correct pathway.

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Regardless of which work model you choose for your organization, it is critical to ensure that the transition - from home to office - is made as seamless as possible to reduce business friction. With the 6 key office policies above, you can give yourself the best chance to ensure your employees’ and customers’ health and safety.

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