Occupational Health and Safety Considerations For Organizations Post Lockdown
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus in Nigeria, the Nigerian government placed activities in the country on lockdown, but from the 4th of May 2020 the lockdown was eased in some states and activities began to gradually take place. Following the government and NCDC’s requirements that should be met by businesses in order for them to commence resumption of operations, this article aims to address guidelines that can be followed and put in place by organizations to ensure the safety of all interested parties (employees and customers) to minimize and eliminate the risk of coming in contact with the virus.
In Occupational Health and Safety, the employee becomes the responsibility of the organization as soon as they step out of their homes to journey to the office; hence the first step the organization should take in ensuring the safety of its employees would be to arrange for the transportation of employees from home to work and back home (especially for employees who do not have official or personal cars). This would help reduce the number of people they have to interact with before getting to the office hence minimizing the risk at which the virus can be spread.
WHO and other health bodies around the world have confirmed that the virus can survive on surfaces and therefore before the resumption of operation in office spaces it is advised to properly disinfect and clean the office space and every equipment in the office (chairs, tables, desktops, keyboards, mouse, printers, toilet sits etc.) Also these health bodies have advised that regular washing and sanitizing of hands with an alcohol-based sanitizer kills the virus, therefore organizations should make provision for employees, customers and any other person visiting the office premise to wash their hands before entering the office premises. Sanitizers should also be placed at strategic locations in the building.
Social distancing has become the order of the day since the outbreak of the coronavirus, therefore organizations can come up with policies that would ensure only a particular amount of persons can be allowed to gather at a meeting or allowed into the office premises at particular points in time.
Also the organization should review procedures to remove bottlenecks, hiccups and waste from operational 
procedures to increase the efficiency of the procedure and reduce the completion time of each process or procedure. This would enable operations to move smoothly and faster (this can be done using a swim lane diagram)
Safety apparatus such as nose masks and gloves should be provided for all employees, this acts as a preventive measure, minimizing the risk of coming in contact with the virus. Signages should also be put in place which would serve as a form of awareness to constantly remind persons in the office building to wash their hands regularly and use the sanitizers that have been installed.
Business operations and environment differ from each other therefore it would become necessary for each organization to review or conduct a risk assessment so as to proactively identify new risks and properly put in place controls to mitigate the risk
The organization should also look into implementing business continuity and occupational health and safety management systems. Meeting the requirements of these standards would give the organization confidence that systems, processes, procedures, controls have been put in place to ensure that operations can continue to run safely to meet customer demands.
Ajibola Olorunnimbe