Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. That seems to be the philosophy of local retailers as the season quickly approaches and concern about the H1N1 flu virus – also known as swine flu – reaches new heights.
"Prevention is the number-one best thing to do," said Tara Darrow, spokeswoman for Nordstrom, Inc., which has several department stores in the Portland metro area.
Darrow says Nordstrom has educated employees about the best ways to avoid infection and stocked up on anti-viral cleaning supplies in locations nationwide – all in accordance to recommendations made by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.
Be Prepared
According to a publication put out by the CDC in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security, the Small Business Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, retailers and other businesses can follow several guidelines to help prevent illness from spreading:
1. Develop policies that encourage ill workers to stay at home without fear of reprisals.
2. Create other leave policies to allow workers to stay home to care for sick family members or care for children if schools close.
3. Provide resources and a work environment that promotes personal hygiene. For example, provide tissues, no-touch trash cans, hand soap, hand sanitizer, disinfectants and disposable towels for workers to clean their work surfaces.
4. Provide education and training materials in an easy to understand format and in the appropriate language and literacy level for all employees.
5. Instruct employees who are well but who have an ill family member at home with the flu that they can go to work as usual. These employees should monitor their health every day, and notify their supervisor and stay home if they become ill.
6. Encourage workers to obtain a seasonal influenza vaccine, including the 2009 H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available, according to CDC recommendations. Consider granting employees time off from work to get vaccinated.
7. Provide workers with up-to-date information on influenza risk factors, protective behaviors and instruction on cough hygiene and keeping hands away eyes, nose and mouth.
8. If an employee becomes sick while at work, place the employee in a separate area until they can go home.
In addition to keeping employees as healthy as possible, retailers need to develop a business continuity plan in case a significant number of workers get sick.
The SBA recommends businesses identify a coordinator responsible for dealing with flu issues, determine essential employees and business functions, institute cross-training and determine how the business will function if the supply chain is interrupted. The organization also recommends establishing an emergency communication plan.
Keep it Clean
Rick Carlson, store manager for Vancouver NAPA on Andresen Road, said they had had one case of swine flu in their Portland warehouse earlier this year.
"We had concerns over drivers coming to the warehouse and being exposed to the virus," Carlson said.
NAPA's corporate headquarters sent out flyers to their store managers, instructing them about hygiene. The company also provided hand cleaner dispensers and wipes to the stores.
Aaron Lutz, owner of Lutz Hardware in Camas, said he has hand-sanitizer by every cashier's till and used masks earlier this spring when the first outbreak of swine flu occurred.
John Zia, vice president of Stratus Building Solutions in Oregon, says that some retailers, who usually clean their premises themselves, often miss the boat when it comes to keeping surfaces clean. SBS provides its Medi-Clean service to Oregon and Southwest Washington businesses.
"Proper, hygienic cleaning is a key component in any effort aimed at preventing illness," Zia said.
Zia defines "proper cleaning" as consisting of three important factors: technology, disinfectants and training. Most people, according to Zia, don't have access to chemicals that are tested and approved for killing viruses like H1N1. "Bleach isn't the best disinfectant," he said.
Zia says many retail establishments' cleaning equipment is outdated, such as older models of vacuum cleaners and mops. Zia recommends retailers upgrade to vacuums with a four-stage filtration system, and microfiber cloths and mops that can eliminate 80 percent of bacteria from a surface using only water.
And, according to Zia, training is paramount.
"Most people are not trained in the proper application of chemicals. It takes time for the chemicals to act – five to ten minutes of dwell time," he said.
Retailers have long known that cleanliness – particularly of bathrooms – significantly affects consumer decisions. In this time of wariness over the H1N1 virus, said Zia, it is even more important for businesses to "keep it clean" to keep their customers coming back.
