Financial Facilities Return to Work CHECKLIST

26 May Financial Facilities Return to Work CHECKLIST

Creating A Healthy Work Environment

With states easing restrictions, financial institutions need to carefully consider how to reopen their facilities and the measures which need to be put in place. To assist with this, The Redmond Company has created a strategic return to work checklist to guide and support this process. The checklist includes information on facility needs, personnel and consumer support, communication planning, health precautions and cleaning protocols.

While the full impact of COVID-19 on the workplace has yet to be determined, we hope the strategies shared below will provide guidance to reopening your facilities and creating safer and healthier environments.

PLANNING & COMMUNICATION & TRAINING

• Identify and evaluate high risk health areas, which include congregation areas and frequently touched surfaces.
• Complete a facility assessment to evaluate building systems and functionality, such as HVAC. Consider HVAC best practices: Flush out pathogens by bringing more fresh air into the facility on a more frequent basis; filter out pathogens by using higher rated air filters on the main air ducts; destroy pathogens by using UV light radiation systems on the main air ducts.
• Review current Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) and incorporate pandemic procedures.
• Emergency Preparedness: Work with your local fire department to determine best practices for holding fire drills while social distancing measures are in place.
• Develop a Security Plan for masked consumers.
• Ensure adequate PPE supplies for next 2 to 4 weeks. This includes Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), testing thermometers and cleaning supplies.
• Identify essential workers to remain onsite. Make accommodations to their workspaces first. Assess roles of at-risk personnel that may need to be reassigned to lower risk roles. Plan phased scenarios for returning to work based on role and need.
• Create guidelines and provide training on new protocols related to personnel transitioning back to work. Identify necessary revisions to Human Resources policies.
• Re-evaluate IT needs to support remote personnel and additional consumer virtual meetings.
• Communicate with wayfinding and protocol signage. Signs to include health precautions being taken; social distancing; modified traffic flow; masks required; etc. Key locations are entrances, lobby display fixtures, digital displays, and drive through displays.
• Create a response plan for: Personnel who report or demonstrate symptoms; have tested positive; or have been in contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case. Create a preparedness plan for a possible second wave of infections.

HEALTH PRECAUTIONS & CLEANING PROTOCOLS

• Screen for admittance to mitigate risk.  Provide dedicated personnel at entrance to guide queuing of incoming occupants. Develop tracking procedures for collecting metrics. Determine if testing personnel is needed.
• Establish policy as to whether personnel will be required to wear mask and use paper placemats at shared workstations. Make PPE available to any personnel who opts to utilize for protection.
• Provide touchless trash containers for face masks and disposing of hand wipes as personnel and consumers exit.
• Consider the mental health impact of the situation on both personnel and consumers and provide support options.
• Strategically position touchless hand sanitizing stations throughout the facility.
• Quarantine and/or sanitize returned and used items in public spaces, such as pens, scissors, staplers.
• Re-evaluate food service spaces, use of coffee maker, water dispenser, and fresh fruit snacks.
• Establish policy against shaking hands and implement a no contact policy. Share and post for personnel and consumers.
• DAYTIME:  Develop a schedule for areas to be cleaned. Focus on priority areas, shared devices and high-touch surfaces, such as railings, door pulls/handles, faucets, light switches, task lighting, elevator buttons, appliances, counter tops, snack dispenser controls, touchable pads, keyboards, whiteboards, phones, printers, copy machines, coin counters, etc.
• Implement cleaning protocols for workstations, conference rooms, training rooms, board rooms, reception desk, PTMs/ATMs and social/common areas at regular intervals throughout the day. Allow 30-minute buffers between use of meeting spaces for proper sanitization.
• NIGHTTIME: Develop a deep cleaning process for all areas and all touchable surfaces including all high-touch surfaces in daytime priority cleaning and additional items, such as tables, countertops, desktops, chair backs and arms, drawer handles, desk height controls, sneeze guards/shields, etc.
• Use guidelines provided by healthcare professionals and your local governmental units to keep your personnel informed and educated on preventing the spread of infection.

FACILITY PLANNING CONCEPTS

• Limit the number of consumers in your facility and create a single controlled access point for personnel and consumers. Vestibules and entries should be designed with space between incoming and out-going doors which will increase the distance between occupants.
• Provide temporary or permanent outdoor sun/rain covering to allow queuing outside of entries.
• Limit the use of the lobby space and reconfigure seating in waiting areas. Remove unnecessary equipment. Use furniture and plants as spacing tools to manage social distancing.
• Set up healthier queueing spacing to teller pods/teller stations and PTM/ATM areas. If your office uses a stanchion system, remove it and/or mark flooring to clearly identify appropriate social distancing.
• Create one-way flow of traffic to minimize congestion. Provide visual markers on the floor to indicate direction.
• Use flooring materials, such as carpet patterns, to reinforce 6-foot social distancing guidelines around desks and workstations, as well as lobbies and other areas where personnel or consumers congregate.
• Consider new options for surface materials on high-touch surfaces including countertops, door levers, light switches, etc. Surfaces should be made of materials that are anti-microbial, abrasion-resistant and easy to clean.
• Limit touch points by replacing or installing new touchless items: Hands free faucets; soap and paper towel dispensers; hand dryers; bathroom fixtures; garbage/recycling bins; badge readers. Consider installing sensor activated door systems or use foot operated door openers. Verify entry door swings are oriented to be pushed open in the direction of traffic which will not require occupants to grasp handles.
• If staffing schedules permit, require personnel to use alternating (every other) teller station. Reconfigure workspaces so personnel do not face one another and stagger workstations where possible.
• Reconfigure flex spaces and shared seating areas, such as focus rooms, learning labs, breakout spaces and shared desks. Clearly identifying which seats respect physical distancing and develop guidelines and a schedule for people sharing desks.
• Rethink meeting spaces. Small meeting rooms may have poor ventilation and are easy spaces for the virus to spread.       Re-space chairs and put tape markers on the floor to indicate 6-foot clearances between seats.
• Color code rooms to indicate whether a room can be used. Red tag: Not cleaned/not ready for use; Green tag: Cleaned/ready for use
• Install screens or temporary clear glass panel barriers at reception or check-in points where social distancing measures are less effective. Heighten partitions/shields between workstations that must face each other.
• Institute protocols to avoid crowding in elevators. Provide cleanable, transparent films over surfaces and buttons.
• Establish policies on the number of people allowed simultaneously in breakroom and other staff gathering locations and rooms. Stagger breaks and lunch schedules. Encourage personnel to take breaks/lunch outside or in their cars.

REDMOND – YOUR PARTNER MOVING FORWARD

We know that the needs of your personnel and consumers are going to evolve as you open your facilities and people return to the workplace. Redmond will continue to work closely with our network of leading health organizations and industry specialists, sharing our insights and knowledge with you.

This checklist is a partial listing of strategies. Additional guidance on this transition and more details for each of the checklist items is available. For more information and advice to help you navigate creating safer and healthier work environments and reopening your financial facilities, please contact us today!