Pandemic Flu: Safety Precautions

• Wash hands with warm water and soap, and continue washing for a minimum of 20 seconds each time. Wash hands with great frequency. According to health care professionals, this one simple step is the most important one you can take to protect yourself.
  
  
• Utilize antibacterial, alcohol-based hand cleaner with frequency, especially when handling money, after coughing, sneezing, or shaking someone’s hand. The Credit Union will provide large dispensers of hand cleaner in the lobby and employees are encouraged to have alcohol-based hand cleaner that contains at least 61% alcohol at their workstations. A common supplier of this product is Purell.
  
  
• Use cough or sneezing etiquette recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) which involves coughing or sneezing into the crook of your arm or a tissue, but not your hands. Be sure to wash your hands after coughing or sneezing, washing for 20 seconds with warm, soapy water.
  
  
• Practice “social distancing.” Eliminate personal meetings whenever possible and replace meetings with phone conferences or e-mails; keep a distance of three feet between individuals at all times; close public rooms in the Credit Union such as conference rooms and break rooms.
  
  
• Eliminate the socially acceptable habit of shaking someone’s hand. Keep the social distance of three feet at all times.
  
  
• Wear a surgical mask when interfacing in person with other employees or members. The mask will become ineffective when it is wet, so be sure to change the mask frequently to maximize its protection. As with gloves, throw masks away in a safe contained trash container once removed. Wash hands immediately after removing masks, washing hands for 20 seconds with warm, soapy water.
  
  
• Be sure to dispose of potentially infected masks, gloves, tissues, etc. in a covered trash basket that can be opened with a foot pedal. Ensure that those containers remain closed until the cleaning staff disposes of them.