Touching an item or surface that may be frequently touched by other people, such as door handles, tables, gas pumps, shopping carts, or electronic cashier registers/screens. Because hand sanitizers are less effective on soiled hands, wash hands rather than using hand sanitizer when your hands are soiled. 7. Cleaning and Disinfection: See Section V of this plan. 8. "Respiratory Etiquette": Because infectious diseases can be spread by droplets expelled from the mouth and nose, employees should exercise appropriate respiratory etiquette by covering nose and mouth when sneezing, coughing or yawning. 9. Special Accommodations for Individuals with Added Risk Factors: Some employees, due to age, underlying health condition, or other factors, may be at increased risk of severe illness if infected. Please inform your supervisor or the HR department if you fall within this group and need an accommodation. B. ADVANCED CONTROLS DURING AN OUTBREAK For activities where the Minimum Controls alone will not provide sufficient protection for employees, additional controls from the following hierarchy may be necessary. Employers should determine if the following are necessary: 1. Elimination: Employers should consider the temporary suspension or elimination of risky activities where adequate controls could not provide sufficient protection for employees. 2. Engineering Controls: Employers should consider appropriate controls to contain and/or remove the infectious agent, prevent the agent from being spread, or isolate the worker from the infectious agent. Examples of engineering controls include: i. Mechanical Ventilation: a. Local Exhaust Ventilation, for example:
Ventilated booths (lab hoods);
Kitchen Vents; and
Vented biosafety cabinets. b. General Ventilation, for example:
Dedicated ventilation systems for cooking areas, malls, atriums, surgical suites, manufacturing, welding, indoor painting, laboratories, negative pressure isolation rooms; Increasing the percentage of fresh air introduced into air handling systems; Avoiding air recirculation; Using higher-efficiency air filters in the air handling system; If fans are used in the facility, arrange them so that air does not blow directly from one worker to another; and ii. Natural Ventilation, for example: Opening outside windows and doors to create natural ventilation; and Opening windows on one side of the room to let fresh air in and installing window exhaust fans on the opposite side of the room so that they exhaust air outdoors. (Note: This method is appropriate only if air will not blow from one person to another.) iii. Install automatic disinfection systems (e.g., ultraviolet light disinfection systems). iv. Install cleanable barriers such as partitions and/or clear plastic sneeze/cough guards. v. Change layout to avoid points or areas where employees may congregate (e.g., install additional
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