Environmental Health and Safety

UK Safety Begins with You!

Reopening General Spaces

Employees who are not able to telework and must be physically present at the office must remain a minimum of six (6) feet away from all other employees and customers unless closer interaction is absolutely required to perform their job duties.

Masks/Cloth Face Coverings are worn to avoid spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. Employees coming to campus should have a Mask/Cloth Face Covering with them or they will be provided one. It must always be worn unless individuals are alone in a room, eating, drinking or exercising or when it interferes with required curricular activities.

Encourage frequent handwashing and ensure hand sanitizer is available near high-traffic and high touch areas. Entry areas of buildings have already been evaluated for sanitizer placement.

Custodial Services will continue to clean facilities on a routine basis. However, high contact surfaces require disinfection before each use (e.g., doorknobs, keyboards, remote controls, desks, shared keyboards, refrigerator handles, microwave oven buttons, other work tools and equipment) with consumer cleaning products. Providing disposable disinfecting wipes will allow employees to wipe down commonly used surfaces before each use. These products can be purchased via the UK Supply Center. It will be the building occupant’s responsibility to identify these high touch surfaces and ensure they are disinfected.

Prior to re-occupancy, perform a detailed review of the configuration of your workspaces:
- Consider eliminating reception seating areas and mandate visitors are only received via appointment.
- Review floorplans and remove or reconfigure seats, furniture and workstations as needed to ensure a minimum of 6 feet is maintained between building occupants.
- Reconfigure workstations so that employees do not face each other.
- Cubicle workstations alone do not preclude the requirement for 6 feet separation.
- Temporarily remove amenities that are handled with high contact frequency, such as water coolers, coffee maker, and bulk snacks.
If vending machines are used, provide disinfectant wipes to allow wipe down after each use.
Reduce tasks requiring large amounts of people to be in one area.
Employees should use virtual meeting tools in lieu of in-person meetings whenever possible.

Disinfectant wipe or spray should be in each conference room and employees should wipe down all surfaces and equipment (e.g., mouse, keyboard, phone) touched during conference room meetings.

Consider limiting in-person meetings to 10 people or less, if virtual meetings are not feasible. Separation of 6 feet between meeting attendees must be maintained.
In-person meetings should be of the shortest duration possible.

When receiving members of the general public, utilize a sign-in register to record the date, time, visitor name, person seen, and location visited.
Plexiglas barriers should be considered for reception desks and other stations where interaction with the public would occur and a 6-foot separation is not practical. Recommended barrier height range is 66” – 72” to account for 95% of the population. Contact Josh Valverde for additional information.
Use signs, tape marks, or other visual cues such as decals or colored tape on the floor, placed 6 feet apart, to indicate where to stand when physical barriers are not possible.
The use of common areas should be discontinued if possible.
Common areas (e.g., lobby, reception areas) should be cleaned and disinfected daily at a minimum.
Regulate the use of common areas with conspicuous signage (including maximum occupancy) and physical distancing measures.

Provide consumer cleaning supplies for employees to utilize before/after they use common spaces and contact surfaces.
Encourage staff not to linger or socialize in common areas.

Disinfect all surfaces and commonly touched equipment after each use (e.g., sign in devices).
Communal meals should not be provided to employees and food not made available in common areas where employees my congregate.

Refrigerator handles, microwave handles, and ice machine handle should be disinfected at least three times per day. Communal coffee machines should not be allowed.
The outside of dishwashers should be cleaned at the beginning of each shift.
Personal utensils should not be kept in kitchen area – use disposable utensils or keep in lunch sack.
Ice machines requiring the use of a handheld scoop should not be used.

Water/beverage facets that require employees to operate them with their hands should be disinfected three times per day.
Disposable utensils and dishes are recommended.

Doors to multi-stall restrooms should be able to be opened without touching handles if possible.

Place a trash can by the door if the door cannot be opened without touching the handle.
Place signs indicating that toilet lids (if present) should be closed prior to flushing.
Place signs indicting the need to wash hands for at least 20 seconds.
Provide paper towels and discontinue the use of hand air dryers.
Restrooms should be cleaned and disinfected on a regular basis.