Staff at banks and other large organisations will need to be more aware of where they are in relation to their colleagues when they eat, drink and celebrate milestones at the office as reopening following the pandemic shut down.
Dr Julian Cox, an expert in food microbiology at the University of New South Wales, told Banking Day that the coronavirus pandemic reinforces the need for people to think about how they interact with colleagues at the office at lunch time and other occasions.
Cox said that people might have particular food handling or food safety practices at home but there is a need an increase in awareness and respect for the fact that the pandemic requires everyone to be more careful in communal areas at the workplace where food is consumed.
The risk of transfer via food itself might be low, Cox noted, but the virus can be present on surfaces for some time and people must ensure that any surfaces are properly cleaned to kill the bug.
Cox observed that social distancing practices will need to be maintained to avoid the potential for infection at the office and this may change the manner in which workplace functions such as birthday or promotion celebrations take place.
“Anyone who has seen the workplace kitchen and how some people will do the right thing in terms of cleaning up after themselves and others won’t. We know that there are people who have different food safety values and that’s probably how they operate at home,” Cox said.
“It might be just themselves or a small number of people at home but in a busy workplace kitchen you could be putting [multiples of] people potentially at risk.”
It may be necessary for people to change habits they have adopted over time, Cox said, and one of those might be the way in which they do simple things such as buy or make coffee at the office.
“It is important to consider how things will change even in terms of using, let’s say, the good old coffee cup. There’s been a wonderful trend towards getting away from using disposable cups using go cups or your own cup at the coffee shop or in the office kitchen,” Cox observed.
“That’s wonderful from an environmental perspective but, of course, now we have to worry about what might be transferred around if somebody hasn’t cleaned the cup properly or you’re asking the barista to actually rinse out your ‘go cup’ and there’s a splash and aerosol and you’re actually infected.”
Cox noted that the emergence of the coronavirus raises the legitimate concern in the minds of people about the circumstances in which they might get sick.
“I think that is a reasonable concern and we are now seeing a switch back away from the environmental concern to the health concern and people are using our shops are insisting on providing coffee in take away cups rather than go cups or your own mug is just as one example.”
Cox noted that the current pandemic reinforces the need for people to keep an eye on their food hygiene practices at home and at the office.
“We don’t want to be too alarmist but at the same time it is an opportunity for people to really be thinking about good personal and food hygiene– not only in relation to COVID 19 but, I think, generally. I think it really is an opportunity to reflect on common practices and perhaps improve what you did before the virus came along.”