How To Prevent The Spread Of Disease At Work

"Bless you," you might say as you once again hear one of your employees having a sneeze fest in their cubicle.  While you appreciate their persistence in coming to work, you wonder if they should have stayed home. You would rather not have your own health or immune system compromised at work.

With the big meeting at the end of the week, you hope that their germs don't decide to take your immune system for a joy-ride. Unfortunately, it is common knowledge that it is impossible to have complete prevention of disease in the work place.

However there are many things that can be done, especially during times of high disease outbreak (such as flu season), that lessen the amount that disease is spread so that health in the work place is maintained.

To begin with, although this may seem like elementary information, it is important to cover your hands and face when coughing and sneezing at work. A sneeze can travel 3 to 4 mile per hour until it hits a hard surface. So those germs will travel until something stops them. Therefore, remind your employees to use their hands.

Also encourage employees to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water. It takes up to 30 seconds for soap to work effectively sometimes, so the longer one scrubs, the more effective the cleaning. Many companies have switched to having alcohol hand sanitizer machines all over the office, which makes it easier for employees to protect their immune system and stay germ free.

Another option for increasing work place health is to make sure that water is plentiful, and clean. Encourage your employees to drink lots of water throughout the work day. This helps flush toxins out of the immune system and keeps the primary immune system (your mucsoal membranes of the ears, nose and throat) nice and moist.

Moist mucsoal membranes are then able to trap all  the germs that try and wiggle into your system, so that you maintain your health.  It may be worthwhile to provide incentive for  employees to drink water at the office, with rewards for those who stay well-hydrated. For this will help keep everyone's immune system and health up.

Furthermore it is highly beneficial to encourage some form of immune system support for your employees. Contrary to popular belief, it might benefit you best to stay away from the usual campaign of providing flu shots for your employees. This is because it is never a guarantee that the flu shot is going to work to improve health.

In order for it to be effective, the strain of the flu that is in the vaccine needs to exactly match the strain of the virus that is spreading. However when the flu shot is being created for each season, researchers must guess which strain is going to spread.

In addition, the flu virus mutates quickly, so strains are hard to track. If the strains do not match, the shot is ineffective, and the immune system becomes compromised. Thus your employees get the flu.

It would be much more effective to sponsor a B-12 shot day for employees rather than a flu vaccine day. Vitamin  B-12 is known to improve health. It is said to be a great stress reducer and energy booster, which promotes health by aiding the immune system.

Stress causes your body to release chemicals that inhibit immune system activity, and hence you get sick more easily. If stress is  removed, your immune system will be able to function properly.

This is especially important for those employees that are middle-aged. It has been studied that vitamin B-12 is no longer well absorbed by the body at that age. Therefore a shot is the most efficient, effective method for employees to receive B-12 , since the vitamin is delivered straight to the blood stream. This small investment will increase work health, and in turn create a happier work environment!

Again, preventing disease is much more cost-effective than paying for treatment! A few small adjustment can make a huge difference in your work place health, which in turn will affect your employees' and your company's wealth and well-being. Do your  own immune system a favor, and invest in work place health and wellness.