When it’s vital staff work from your offices, your duty of care is to keep them safe and comfortable. That is now more complex due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Which is why we’ve highlighted these five ways you can improve your office safety.

Of the 1.6 million work-related injuries and illnesses each year in the UK, office environments play far more of a role than you possibly realise. Injuries to employees are something you tend to associate with construction sites or using heavy machinery or chemicals for example. Making it possible for companies to get complacent about the Health & Safety issues in offices.

The most common risk in offices is a fall. Office-based workers are more than twice as likely to take a tumble at work, compared to at home. Lifting incorrectly is also a common cause of workplace injuries, as well as strains from reaching up or down.

You won’t be surprised to read that workstations are the source of many incidents of considerable and lasting damage, including carpal tunnel syndrome, neck and back problems and of course eye strain.

Modern offices must also be aware of a risk that has resulted in many staff working from home; Covid-19. Team members based in head offices or branches – for all or part of the working week – must be assured of strict adherence to the latest coronavirus protocols and safety measures.

1. Properly sized desk screens

When considering how to improve your office safety right now, desk screens are vital. However, it is important to buy the right size and format to serve their purpose in your office layout.

For example, our versatile and aesthetically pleasing COVID-19 safety screens include easy to attach desk dividers. There are also options that make reception desks safer and products to screen countertops for customer interaction. We are even a supplier of large freestanding Perspex protective screens for places where people stand and move around to work or meet.

To effectively reduce infection spread, the right type of office screen makes a big difference.

2. Modulean Shadow Boards

This ingenious safety product for offices is one of our most popular products with good reason. The ways customers use Modulean Shadow Boards, for safety, workplace management and communication, are diverse.

For one thing, they provide the ideal COVID-19 hygiene stations, coming ready and equipped with key equipment like hand gel and disinfectant wipe dispensers. Or, you can specify a Modulean Lite or Shadow Board system as a clear First Aid or Fire control point, with your relevant kit displayed prominently.

Some are even more practical, enabling employers to tidy away cleaning equipment logically and centrally, so staff can access it quickly when needed. What business need can Modulean Shadow Boards solve for you?

3. Anti Slip

Office safety measures must address the risk of falls. Such as mopping up spills, and clearing away debris using equipment hung on a Modulean Shadow Board!

In wet or wintery weather, moisture dragged in on people’s feet or clothing can make foyers and even office floors a serious slip zone.

Getting ahead of this means stocking up on the best anti-slip products for office complexes. You will find our innovative range has covered you for many eventualities. Including providing you with anti-slip stair treads, and anti-slip tape in various sizes for hazardous locations. We even stock anti-slip footprints to help you mark out one-way walking or to segregate pedestrians from machinery and traffic.

4. Social Distancing Seat Markers

One of the items all offices should buy-in, to manage COVID-19 safety, is a set of social distancing stickers for various places and purposes. That includes easy to fix and remove seat markers for social distancing.

Our range includes a versatile seating marker for meeting rooms, reception areas, restaurants and a wide range of other workplaces where the pandemic is being taken seriously.

5. COVID-19 Floor Marking Kits

Recent office must-haves also now include floor markings to help keep staff distanced and safe.

Our durable and well-designed COVID-19 Floor Marking Kits come with everything you need to manage commercial environments, including anti-slip ‘Stop’ signs for pedestrians. The strong adhesive makes these a safer option than cheaper alternatives that can peel off or tear easily, adding a new trip hazard.

Advice on office safety products

These five ways to improve your office safety are just examples of the ways Beaverswood helps customers to manage daily risks in different workplaces. We are always happy to chat about your specific needs and concerns, and can suggest cost-effective safety products that prevent your staff from becoming an H&S statistic!

Which is the right protective screen for your workplace?
With workplaces becoming increasingly prepped for Covid-19 a lot of companies are looking at ways to protect their staff and their customers.

Hand sanitisers, face shields and one-way systems have been widely introduced. But what else can you add to the workplace to improve safety?

Protective screens are an affordable and effective way to reduce personal contact between colleagues and visitors, and in turn, help reduce the spread of airborne viruses.

Let’s take a look at the different options…

Reception Desk Screen (Polycarbonate)

The ideal solution for any workplace that includes a reception, lobby or waiting room.
The screen acts as a face to face protective barrier but allows items and documents to be passed through a small 100mm gap at the bottom – the perfect serving hatch.
As with all the screens on this list, the transparency enables clear clarity, whilst maintaining safety. The screen is easily secured using fixing brackets.

Reception Desk Screen

Office Desk Screen (Polycarbonate)

Suitable for a wide variety of desk types, with various fixing brackets to choose from depending on your desk design.
Ideal for use where office desks are positioned close together or when dealing with clients on a regular basis – offering secluded protection.
These screens offer more ‘all-round’ protection compared to the reception desk screen as they are secured in close proximity to the desk edges.

Office Desk Screen

Office Desk Divider Extension Screen (Polycarbonate)

An extra level of protection, for those desks which already have existing panel dividers. These extension screens offer increased division and protection between colleagues sitting opposite each other.
With fixing brackets these screens are extremely easy to install and offer a condensed safety measure without causing inconvenience or intrusion.

Desk Divider Extension Screen

Floor Freestanding Panel Screen (Polycarbonate)

These freestanding protective screens can be used all around the workplace, either as personal space dividers or to section off parts of the workplace such as kitchenettes, workstations, meeting areas or rows of desks.
As well as being used as large divider panels to segregate workstations, you can also use the screens to create safe walkways and pedestrian routes.
The unique aspect of these screens is that you can create your own freestanding modular system by joining the screens together. This modular feature means that you don’t have to think linearly – they can create 90 degree angles, meaning they can fit into any shape floor space and still work as intended.

Freestanding Panel Screens

Modular Freestanding Panel Screens

Counter Top Screen (PVC Film)

The PVC counter top screen is similar to the reception desk screen in concept but has the benefit of being easily portable. Featuring a foam plastic frame with a roomy 180mm gap underneath the PVC screen to allow items and documents to be passed through, when necessary. Due to it’s lightweight structure this screen is ideal for provisional use and can be relocated and re-used multiple times, and stored away when not needed.
Ideal for protecting employees and customers at tills and counters, or in the office as a temporary solution.

Counter Top Screen

Table Top Screen (PVC Film)

The table top screen was designed as a portable protective screen to segregate gatherings in cafeterias or meeting rooms.
Using this screen enables a table to be segregated into table-width sections and, in conjunction with social distance seating signs, helps keep people safer in larger, communal seating areas.
Ideal for use in canteens, cafes, restaurants, meeting rooms and many other areas with tables.

Table Top Screen

Conclusion

As you can see, there are various screens suitable for various locations within the workplace.

Each of these screens are highly durable, transparent and aesthetic, as well as being easy to maintain (polycarbonate screens can be lifted out of their brackets easily to be cleaned).

Available in standard sizes or custom sizes upon request.

We hope this summary helps you choose the right screen for your surroundings, encouraging a safer working environment.

For more detailed information and all your screen enquiries please contact us.

Quality signs and labels can play a seminal role in an effective anti-coronavirus (COVID-19) strategy during these difficult times for thousands of UK businesses.

Employers have become accustomed to managing illness such as flu and colds in the workplace, particularly in the long winter months.

However, the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak is causing many to urgently revisit their workplace policies and practices to ensure continued worker health and safety.

And this includes the use of signs and labels as part of an effective plan.

Health and Safety law says employers must take sensible steps to protect workers and that includes adopting reasonable precautions by following Public Health England guidance for your sector.

The HSE is also working closely with the DHSC, PHE and other government departments to provide support when it’s needed, including technical advice on the protection of workers at risk during these extraordinary times.

Workplace Care

But the workplace is among the most risky environments for people at the current time.

Despite more and more of us opting to work from home, the sheer volume of people required to carry out key responsibilities and tasks under one roof in hospitals, healthcare facilities, warehouses and other essential facilities focuses the mind more than ever on the paramount importance of hygiene to reduce risks and limit the spread of contagion.

For some companies, safety can slip under the constant pressure to create a more efficient, better service for customers.

But under UK law, employers must observe a duty of care to their workforce: they must identify the health and safety risks each person faces at work.

Generally speaking, this comes into force when a person or group of people do something that might reasonably harm somebody, which includes the possibility of exposure to coronavirus.

Risk Assessments

In the context of the workplace, duty of care is legally binding on an employer.

Put simply, owners and operators must abide by what the law refers to as a standard of reasonable care – and this applies to any work-related matter that could injure someone in the warehouse environment.

This is why a site risk assessment must be immediately undertaken – to identify such issues is vital.

If an employer neglects their duty of care, and if a problem arises, an affected employee may be able to proceed with a claim of negligence at a later date with all the associated ramifications of financial penalties, legal costs and reputational damage.

Adopting a holistic approach to the health and safety management by considering the task, the working environment, equipment used and the person carrying out the task, is recommended good practice and would be seen as a sensible first step at the moment.

How to Evaluate Risk

The key part of managing risks is the risk assessment – the effective process of evaluating risks to workers’ health from workplace hazards in order to determine the measures required to eliminate or reduce the level of incidents.

The risk assessment should identify the key health and safety priorities within and around the warehouse so that efforts can be concentrated on these priorities.

If and when a worker succumbs to illness, what can we do to prevent further spread?

Several preventive measures and steps can be followed to highlight and reduce the spread of the virus including:

• Proper hand hygiene – wash hands thoroughly to prevent the spread of infection
• Don’t share items
• Adhere to proper infection/exposure control precaution
• Comply with social distancing regulations (keep 2 metres apart)

Signs and Labels Practices

In these difficult times, good use of signs and labels can be deployed to protect, advise and inform in the workplace, helping to keep people safer and healthier.

Properly located and suitably deployed, cautionary signs and labels, for example, can be among the first line of physical defence in the battle to alert people to the dangers and amplify public health messages in high-population places such as:

• Warehouses
• Fulfilment centres
• Call centres
• Commercial offices 
• Retail outlets 

It’s important to recognise that each workplace is different with its own unique set of risks, but the early adoption of comparatively simple measures can not only be relatively inexpensive but highly effective in mitigating risk.

Your Signs and Labels Strategy Will Minimise Risk

Clearly, it’s going to be difficult for everyone to comprehensively mitigate against the coronavirus threat in the weeks and months ahead, but a sound strategy can help to minimise the risks.

It’s also important to tailor your decision-making to meet your specific needs – the one-size fits all approach won’t always work in an environment where the balance between productivity and people’s health and well-being is paramount.

Think about your requirements in terms of quality, reliability and performance, and consider also how your supplier can add value in helping you understand the role that signs and labels play in securing a safer tomorrow.

How to implement social distancing and protecting your workforce during COVID-19

If you’re concerned about how to implement social distancing at work, then this article will help you.

Operating safely and protecting the workforce is absolutely critical. For construction, manufacturing, distribution centres and logistics operations, it’s a seemingly impossible task to follow social distancing measures. With the Government outlining their new advice on workplace social distancing, now is the time to educate yourself and your work colleagues on safety.

Social distancing long-term

The sobering reality is that social distancing will be in place for the foreseeable future. It’s time to consider high quality and long-lasting practices that will only need to be installed once.

8 tips from Beaverswood to implement safe social distancing at work

Beaverswood offers advice and tips on how to implement safe and long-term social distancing measures into the workplace as well as supplying you with safety equipment to ensure your colleagues are safe during hours of work.

Tip #1

Starting with the morning rush to a site, you need to make sure your people are keeping their distance before they enter the workplace. Outdoor floor stencils are a great solution to keeping everyone two metres apart.

Tip #2

Industrial-strength floor markers can ensure one-way systems, mark out specific areas and zones or enforce a two metre distance in the workplace. Shop the full range at Beaverswood.

Tip #3

Personal protection is really key. From hard hats with visors to shielded face masks, there are plenty of options that will suit the relevance of your business.

Tip #4

If you need to segregate workers in communal areas – such as picking and packing zones – then consider floor-standing perspex screens. If you need a bit less permanence or more movement between the areas, then consider rotational perspex screens.

Tip #5

Introduce cleaning stations to prevent cross-contamination and manage infection control. Beaverswood has a full range of shadowboards to help workplaces create best practice.

Tip #6

Stagger lunch breaks and try to keep communal social areas occupied to a minimum.

Tip #7

Desk and counter-top screens provide additional protection to desk-workers. If you have customer-facing or public-facing regular contact, then these are a good cost-effective solution.

Tip #8

If you have a large premise or multiple locations, consult an expert who can recommend and install your social distancing measures. Beaverswood have a team of experts who can help.

For more information, advice or help, please get in touch

After the latest announcement made by Boris Johnson that UK schools are now preparing for a phased return as early as June we are here to provide you with further information on how you can create a safe environment for staff and students to return.

So how can schools prepare to return safely and implement social distancing?

UK schools are now considering the practicalities of social distancing in a school place.

The GMB Union website gives some practical advice for staff to keep everyone safe and well at school, which includes introducing markers on the floor to remind everyone of the 2m rule.

When you’re considering primary age children, you need to think about visual prompts to communicate with and engage young children. explains Jim Roberts, Product Manager at Beaverswood.

That’s why we have created a range of child-friendly social distancing markers and signs for schools to help them practise social distancing at school during COVID-19

Whilst it’s difficult for classrooms to manage distancing, especially when space is a challenge, there is definitely best practise that schools can adopt. Good hygiene, like washing hands regularly, can be supported with other safety measures.

Top tips to implement social distancing at school:

• Use visual aids and prompts, such as floor markers, to encourage social distancing
• Use signage to remind children and staff, at every opportunity, to wash their hands
• Implement hand washing stations in key places like classrooms, the dinner hall and the playground.
• Stagger lunch and break times
• Use visual aids in the playground, such as outdoor stencils.
• Make sure you’re up to date with first aid supplies
• Remind parents of social distancing with appropriate signage and stencils

For our full range of social distancing products for schools, including school kits, visit the Beaverswood store