4 Tips to Manage COVID-19 Like a Threat

Every organization is trying to figure out the safest way to return to the workplace/office/school while still maintaining daily operations. There are dozens of tools promising one-and-done solutions to get people back to work. But a great COVID-response tool doesn’t just screen entry into a building or offer a health survey. You need a tool that enables a proactive approach to COVID-19.

Most business have threat assessment and standard response protocols to manage emergencies and behavioral concerns. Those protocols can be readily adapted to manage your COVID-19 response because they share the same objective and stakeholders. Thinking about COVID-19 the same way you analyze other threats will also encourage a more robust approach to management and response.

Consider: a proactive threat assessment plan includes 4 things.

Identify
Assess
Respond
Recover

Each of these elements are equally critical in managing learning in a pandemic.

Identify:
Gather data. You need to identify which employees (or visitors or customers) are a potential COVID risk. Who has been exposed? Who is showing symptoms? Who has a fever? How do you monitor those individuals and keep those around them safe and healthy?

Quick tip: A simple health screening survey can identify potential cases of COVID-19 and streamline processes for and communication about quarantine measures. Once you have that data, it’s also easier to report to state and local health departments, perform contact tracing, and make notifications to those who may have been in contact (all in line with AB685 in California).

Assess:
Just as you assess risk in a potentially violent or dangerous scenario, you also assess available data to inform your COVID response. Once you’ve gathered data, you can use it to make data-driven decisions for your workforce. Should you return to remote work? Would a hybrid schedule make it easier to social distance? How are workers’ mental and emotional health?

Quick tip: Assessing relevant data is critical to managing threat response in any emergency. It can be tedious to maintain that level of communication over a long-time crisis like COVID-19. Compile your data into a dashboard so stakeholders can see relevant information quickly and securely.

Respond:
Once you’ve gathered and analyzed the data, you can respond to crises and make the decisions that will keep your people safe. Implement entry validation or hybrid schedules. Make mental or emotional health resources available to your team.

Quick tip: COVID communication and alerting can be overwhelming. Automatic alerts and reporting can make life easy when an outbreak occurs.

Recover:
Someday the world will go back to normal. Or maybe there are some changes that will stick around for good. (More than half of US employers don’t think their teams will return 100% to the office post-crisis.) With the proper data and response plans, you can make sure employees are physically and mentally healthy and that they have the resources they need to succeed.

Quick tip: Preparation now will make recovery easier. Lay the groundwork for success by gathering and utilizing the data you need. Don’t make plans in the dark.

Thinking about COVID-19 response as a threat can provide clarity for protocols and responses and can simplify action plans and recovery. Make sure your standard response plans are robust and flexible enough to accommodate the unique challenges your organization is facing with COVID-19.

If you’re looking for a tool that can make any of these elements of COVID response easier, check out Safety iPass. It’s an all-in-one tool for health screening, entry validation, data reporting, and contact tracing. Whatever your COVID responsibilities, Safety iPass can make it simpler and more straightforward. Learn more.