The National Safety Council (NSC) has released guidance for employers to help them prioritize safety during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance is based on recommendations from the SAFER task force and incorporates 10 universal actions for employers to consider before reopening. It is accompanied by a series of playbooks with in-depth recommendations for doing so safely.

SAFER – a group of experts from companies of all sizes, leading safety organizations, nonprofits, government agencies and public health organizations – is the first national task force focused on worker safety. The 10 universal actions are:

  1. Phasing – Create a phased transition to return to work aligned with risk and exposure levels
  2. Sanitize – Before employees return, disinfect the workplace and make any physical alterations needed for physical distancing
  3. Screenings – Develop a health status screening process for all employees
  4. Hygiene – Create a plan to handle sick employees, and encourage safe behaviors for good hygiene and infection control
  5. Tracing – Follow proper contact tracing steps if workers get sick to curb the spread of COVID-19
  6. Mental Health – Commit to supporting the mental and emotional health of your workers by sharing support resources and policies
  7. Training – Train leaders and supervisors not only on the fundamentals of safety such as risk assessment and hazard recognition, but also on the impacts of COVID-19 on mental health and wellbeing, as employees will feel the effects of the pandemic long after it is over
  8. Engagement Plan – Notify employees in advance of the return to work, and consider categorizing workers into different groups based on job roles, bringing groups back one at a time
  9. Communication – Develop a communications plan to be open and transparent with workers on your return to work process
  10. Assessment – Outline the main factors your organization is using as guidance to provide a simplistic structure to the extremely complex return to work decision

“Protecting our workers means coalescing around sets of safety principles and ensuring those principles guide our decisions,” said Lorraine M. Martin, NSC president and CEO. “Employers are asking for help, and we’ve brought together leading safety experts to deliver in this time of need. We hope these universal actions, the detailed playbooks and the recommendations within them will help employers safely navigate reopening operations while prioritizing employees’ rights to safe work environments.”