How Preventing Swine Flu

The symptoms of swine flu are same to the symptoms of seasonal flu and include runny or stuffy nose, body aches, fever, cough, sore throat, headache, chills and fatigue. Lots of people with swine flu as well have reported vomiting and diarrhea. It is not possible to differentiate swine flu from seasonal flu based on symptoms. Swine flu is transmitted in much the same way as seasonal flu, i.e. mostly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with swine flu. One more mode of transmission is through infected surfaces.


The employers, management and employees can take some precautions and work practices to reduce the threat of the increase of novel influenza A (H1N1) flu in the workplace. In addition, general prevention and preparedness strategies should be put in place in case a worker becomes sick.


Steps the management can take for preventing swine flu at the workplace:


* Provide flexible and non-penalizing leave policies that encourage ill workers to stay home and left from the place of work.

* Ask employees to stay at home if they are ill. They should stay at home for at least 24 hours after their fever is moved out without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.

* Display posters at the place of work that address and remind workers about right hand washing, respiratory hygiene, and cough etiquette.

* Send out written material such as E-mails on swine flu (H1N1) flu in a language understood by everyone in the place of work. Check with the local public health authorities to ensure that you are providing suitable and up-to-date information.

* Confirm that sufficient facilities for hand washing are obtainable in lobbies, corridors, and restrooms. Provide trouble-free access to alcohol-based hand sanitizers in common office areas.

* Confirm that adequate supply of tissues and disinfectants is offered for employees to wipe their work surfaces. Employees should be provided a suitable disposal container to discard used tissues and wipes.

* Ask the cleaning staff to disinfect commonly-touched surfaces in the place of work, such as work stations, counter tops, door knobs, and bathroom surfaces by wiping them down with a household disinfectant. Flu virus can survive on environmental surfaces and can infect an individual for up to 2-8 hours after being deposited on the surface.

* Employees who are well other than who have a family member with swine flu should be allowed to attend work as usual. These workers should check their health every day and notify their supervisor and stay home if they become ill.

* Ask employees who have an underlying medical circumstance or who are pregnant to call their health care provider for advice, because they might need to receive prophylactic influenza antiviral medicines.

* Identify and assign one person as the a coordinator for dealing with novel influenza A (H1N1) flu topics and impact at the workplace, which should include contacting local health personnel in advance and developing and implementing protocols for response to sick individuals.

* Confirm that the human resources department has up-to-date travel related recommendations and communicate these advices to employees who may have upcoming business associated travel.

* Make backup strategy for the possibility of unscheduled leave in case employees who are sick need to stay at home to care for themselves or for their family members with the flu.

* Organize for brief education and communication sessions for the workers so that they are well aware of swine flu facts and company policies and resources for people who become sick with the flu.