Last Updated: November 5, 2009
Employer Guidance: Reducing All Workers'
Exposures
to the 2009 H1N1 Flu
| As new information about the 2009 H1N1 virus becomes available, this workplace guidance will be reevaluated and updated. Employers and workers should review OSHA's Workplace Safety and H1N1 often to ensure they have the most up-to-date information when making decisions about their current operations and planning. |
Introduction
There are some basic precautions that can protect workers during the 2009-2010 flu season. This page informs employers and managers on ways to protect workers whose job tasks involve contact with coworkers and the general public, but do not require close contact with patients who have or may have 2009 H1N1 flu, specimens from these patients, or contaminated materials in a healthcare setting (e.g., inpatient or out patient facility, home healthcare, or clinical laboratory setting). This page highlights information from OSHA’s Fact Sheet on What Employers can do to Protect Workers from Pandemic Influenza and HHS/CDC’s Guidance for Business and Employers to Plan and Respond to the 2009-2010 Influenza Season.
Review your pandemic flu plan and make sure it covers the precautions highlighted in this page. If you don’t have a plan, then use the OSHA and HHS/CDC resources noted and this page to develop one.All employers need to implement a combination of control methods to protect workers and reduce the transmission of the 2009 H1N1 virus in the workplace, including:
- encouraging sick workers to stay home,
- promoting hand hygiene and cough etiquette,
- keeping the workplace clean,
- promoting vaccination and addressing travel, and
- planning for additional actions if the severity of the pandemic increases.
 Encourage Sick Workers to Stay Home
- Encourage sick workers to stay home. The HHS/CDC recommends that workers who have a fever or chills and a cough or sore throat stay at home until 24 hours after their fever ends (defined as 100 degrees Fahrenheit [37.8 degrees Celsius]), without the use of medication. Not everyone who has 2009 H1N1 flu will have a fever. Other symptoms could include a runny nose, body aches, headache, tiredness, diarrhea, or vomiting.
- Discuss with staff leave, pay, transportation, travel, childcare, absence and other human resources policies. Develop non-punitive flexible leave policies that encourage workers to stay home if they are sick.
Develop a Policy for Workers and Clients Who become Ill in the Workplace
- Develop a policy on how to deal with workers and clients who may be ill with 2009 H1N1 flu and communicate it to your workers. See HHS/CDC's Guidance for Business and Employers to Plan and Respond to the 2009-2010 Influenza Season for information about how to develop this type of policy.
- Determine who will be responsible for assisting ill individuals in the workplace, and make sure at least one person can serve as the "go to" person if someone becomes sick in the workplace.
- HHS/CDC recommends that workers who appear to have flu-like symptoms when they arrive or who become ill during the day be promptly separated from other workers and be advised to go home until 24 hours after their fever ends, without the use of medication.
- If ill workers cannot be separated from others, give them a surgical mask to wear, if possible and if they can tolerate it, until they can go home.
Promote Hand Hygiene and Cough Etiquette
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- Useful resource: HHS/CDC provides "Germ Stopper" posters that can be posted in the workplace to reinforce basic hygiene practices.
- Useful resource: HHS/CDC resources on hand washing.
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Workers, visitors, and clients should use proper hand hygiene and cough etiquette.
- Workers, visitors, and clients should have easy access to supplies such as:
- "No touch" wastebaskets for used tissues;
- Soap and water;
- Alcohol-based hand rubs;
- Disposable towels;
- Cleaning and sanitation materials.
- Lobbies, halls, and restrooms should have the above items and workers should know the location.
Hand Hygiene
Wash hands after blowing your nose, coughing, sneezing, or coming into contact with mucus or contaminated objects and surfaces.
Soap and water: rub soapy hands together for at least 20 seconds, rinse hands with water, and dry completely.
Alcohol-based hand rubs: If soap and water are not available, use of an alcohol-based hand rub may be helpful as an interim measure until hand washing is possible. When using an alcohol-based hand rub, apply liquid to palm of hand, cover all surfaces of the hands with the liquid, and rub hands together until dry. |
Cough Etiquette
Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, or cough and sneeze into your upper sleeve(s).
Dispose of used tissues in "no-touch" wastebaskets.
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Keep the Workplace Clean
- Useful Resource: EPA's website has information on registered flu disinfectants.
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- Frequently clean all commonly touched work surfaces, work areas, and equipment (e.g., doorknobs, lunch areas, countertops, copiers, etc.) clean.
- Use the cleaning agents that are usually used in these areas and follow the directions on the label. No additional disinfection beyond routine cleaning is recommended by HHS/CDC.
- Provide disinfectants and disposable towels for workers to use to clean their work spaces and surfaces and to keep work areas clean.
Encourage Workers to Get Vaccinated
Educate Workers About Conditions That Place Them at Higher Risk for Complications of Flu
- HHS/CDC has identified groups that have a higher risk for complications from 2009 H1N1 flu (e.g., pregnant women, persons with asthma, etc.).
- Inform workers that some people are at higher risk of complications from flu and suggest that they talk to their doctor about their own risk and what to do if they become ill.
Address Travel and Sickness While on Travel
- Reconsider business travel to areas with high illness rates; see up-to-date travel advisories.
- HHS/CDC recommends the following measures for workers who becomes ill while on travel:
- Advise workers who become ill while traveling or on temporary assignment to notify their supervisors.
- Workers who become ill while traveling and are at increased risk of complications from fllu and others concerned about their illness should promptly call a healthcare provider.
- Advise workers to check themselves for fever and any other signs of flu-like illness before starting travel and to notify their supervisors and stay home if they feel ill.
Plan for Social Distancing if Disease Severity Increases
- Identify ways to redesign workspaces like cubicles so that there is a barrier between workers, coworkers, and clients or there is a separation of at least 6 feet between workers, coworkers, and clients.
- Identify ways to modify job tasks and activities so that workers do not come into close contact (within 6 feet) with coworkers, clients, or visitors. For example, expand Internet and phone-based client service to minimize face-to-face contact.
- Consider using flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting and staggered work schedules to reduce the number of workers who need to come into work at the same time.
- Think about ways to eliminate face–to–face meetings between staff and with clients – use conference calls, webcasts, and other technologies to conduct meetings.
- Limiting visitors to the workplace to minimize contact between workers and the general public.
Prepare for Possible School Closures or Suspension of Child Care Programs
For more information, see OSHA's Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for an Influenza Pandemic, OSHA Publication No. 3327, which can be accessed at
www.osha.gov. Also see HHS/CDC’s Guidance for Business and Employers to Plan and Respond to the 2009-2010 Influenza Season.
| This guidance is advisory in nature and informational in content. It is not a standard or regulation, and it neither creates new legal obligations nor alters existing obligations created by OSHA standards or the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Pursuant to the OSH Act, employers must comply with safety and health standards and regulations issued and enforced either by OSHA or by an OSHA-approved State Plan. In addition, the Act’s General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1), requires employers to provide their employees with a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm. |
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