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Davies Ndumiso Sibanda

ONE of the most difficult things to manage among workers during Covid-19 is their private lives and the way they generally conduct themselves at personal level during and after hours.

For businesses to survive there is a need to invest in training employees in behaviour change at and off work.

The new normal prohibits the hugs and handshakes workers used to give each other when they arrive at work. The way the workers conduct themselves in the changerooms is now different, the personal effects locker is now highly sensitive area where only the employee’s personal item can be kept. Any item collected elsewhere including items purchased along the day have to be sanitised before storage.

Visiting the workplace toilet and touching of surfaces and door handles require adequate protection given the time Covid-19 lasts on surfaces. Training on safe toilet visit procedures and sanitizing is now critical where the toilets are shared. Those who work with swipe cards have to learn new habits to protect themselves, colleagues and customers and also save the business from being infected and ultimately closed.

Suppliers need engagement on how to handle their goods and many businesses have designed short questionnaires for suppliers to help remind them of safety requirements.

It was a very painful moment last week when we were briefing workers in one shop that the shop had been zoned and as such staff in different sections were not allowed to mingle and a stringent hygiene procedure had to be followed for one to cross the line. All this was done after doing a risk assessment and planning in order to minimise the risk of business closure.

Employees have to be trained on how to handle Covid-19 infection at the workplace and death of a colleague due to the pandemic. This is not a palatable subject to discuss. The painful truth however is that some workplaces have walked that road and their advise is that its better to plan and prepare workers as their colleague will die and there will be no mourning as we know it and burial will be attended by a few close family members. What colleagues will hear is that a fellow worker is sick, dead and buried.

Self-isolation, being quarantined and return to work requires planning because many will recover but carry the Covid-19 stigma.

Workers need training on working with someone on self-isolation and helping the recovered and those that were on precautionary self-isolation re-integrate. Further, those on self-isolation can still work from home, thus, the need to make adequate plans for working from home and provide appropriate supervision.

One of the most risky times is to travel to and from work, given the congestion in the buses and private transport workers use. There is no social distancing in public transport and sanitising if any is rudimentary meaning that workers have to be extremely careful and follow certain protocols throughout their journey on either side.

Workers need adequate training on home arrival procedures and conduct at home just as they have to do the same as they arrive at work. When at home, the survival strategies are even complex given that all we live with have their own daily lives and risks they have to manage. This, however, does not stop the employer from providing training.

In conclusion, employers have to develop comprehensive training programmes that address all the possible threats to the business caused by Covid-19 and the training should be done using safe training methods.

Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on: email: [email protected].