When it comes to a serious global outbreak of a virus-like COVID-19, the new type of coronavirus, everyone in the world is affected in some way or another. This recent outbreak has shown that the new virus is particularly contagious. it has found a carrier who visits many places.
The emphasis by health authorities wherever the virus has landed has been on containing it, so health care providers do not get swamped all at once by people seeking medical care. Containment allows the virus to have a gentler impact on the community than if there were no containment measures in place at all. While the virus is doing its rounds from one country to another, recommendations by leading health authorities are asking people to take certain precautions to prevent them from getting this virus or passing it on once infected.
Recommendations for Employers
Employers have no doubt become aware of ways of preventing the spread of the virus through their workplaces. It is just a matter of informing employees about what is expected of them. This, of course, can change day by day so you have to keep informed if you want your employees to keep up-to-date as well. You may even have to close your business for a while if there isn’t enough work for your employees. You must tell your employees upfront about how their job may or may not be affected by this unexpected event.
This is a List of Suggestions for Employees
- Stay home from work if you are experiencing a sore throat, headache or high temperature;
- Call your doctor and explain your symptoms. S/he will tell you what to do next;
- Don’t just turn up at your doctor or a hospital without an appointment. This is all about containment so your doctor or hospital has to get ready to receive you;
- Containment means that action taken by employees like yourself will slow down the spread of the virus so health providers can provide the best health outcomes for all;
- Alert your workplace so others can be told to self-isolate at home and get tested for the coronavirus, if required;
- Keep your employer informed of any changes to your health status;
- For employees still, at work you should keep a hand sanitiser close at hand to use throughout the day;
- Don’t shake hands or engage in physical greetings with co-workers or visitors to your workplace;
- Try not to touch your face over and over again;
- When visiting the toilet, wash your hands for at least 30 seconds with soap;
- If you do have a common cold, don’t cough or sneeze over others. Use a handkerchief or tissue.
Many Employers Employ a Multilingual Workforce
Employees in most workplaces speak English, even if they are immigrants. However, this doesn’t mean they will necessarily understand complicated instructions if they are just in English. As the coronavirus threat has now been declared a pandemic no workforce can afford to be complacent. You certainly don’t want your workforce ignoring advice that you want them to remember.
Putting up a notice on a notice board may not attract much attention but you could distribute a single page leaflet or a brochure which uses words and images to put across an important point. This means the message is in the images not in the words. Your employees may do most of their work from computers but you haven’t required them to work from home since the announcement of the pandemic. This could be because the technology cannot be adapted for home use. In this case, you could load a page about coronavirus onto your businesses server so that employees see this when they first open their computers that day. You can adapt this every day as updates about the virus become available.
Translating Leaflets, Brochures and Landing Pages
Once you have devised your primary leaflet, a more detailed brochure and landing page now is the time to check who speaks what in your workplace, so you can get on with ordering translations. Many workforces in Australia will have speakers of Hindi, Mandarin, Tagalog, Greek, Italian and many other languages, as Australia is a multilingual country. You may even have some Pitjantjara speakers in your workforce if your business is in South Australia. If you are a West Australian mining company which recruits temporary workers on the 457 visa you may need translations into languages like Nepalese and Indonesian.
Get the best Translation Services for Corona Virus Communication
The best way to ensure you have a well-translated leaflet, brochure or landing page for your employees to learn about the coronavirus is to get an experienced language service provider to do your translation work, such as Aussie Translations, which understands the translation needs of both businesses and government organizations. It not only provides translations for more than 90 of the world’s language but is a fast, efficient and accurate translation service. We already translate emergency communication content related to coronavirus for over 40 Australian companies and government departments.