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How Different Industries Can Use Plastic Sneeze Guards to Protect Their Employees

Covid Vaccine Drive Through Clear Plastic Barrier EnclosureAs states are announcing reopening plans, industries in a wide range of market segments need to make sure their employees and customers are kept as safe as possible. The CDC and OSHA have provided guidance on recommendations to prepare workspaces and reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.

Some of the more common things being done include, but may not be limited to:

  • Requiring employees to wear personal protection equipment (PPE) like face masks and disposable gloves.
  • Requiring employees to wash and sanitize their hands every 20 to 30 minutes.
  • Taking the temperatures of employees before allowing them entry.
  • Frequently cleaning and disinfecting surfaces, workspaces, restrooms, etc.
  • Requiring all guests age three and older to wear face masks at all times, except when eating.
  • Maintaining proper social distancing of six feet or more.
  • Using signage, floor markings, and other such materials to inform, educate, and promote safer environments.
  • Limiting capacities on the number of people allowed in businesses at one time.
  • Taking the temperatures of all guests and customers before allowing entry.
  • Regular testing of “essential” employees in high-risk areas like hospital ICUs.
  • Installing various barriers and plastic sneeze guards to further protect employees in close contact with guests and customers.

What Are Plastic Sneeze Guards?

Plastic sneeze guards are plastic barriers that are installed to help protect workers and guests alike. They create a safe barrier so that close contact is possible when there are less than six feet for social distancing.

These clear partitions are not new. They have been around for quite some time. However, they were primarily used in foodservice, healthcare, and cleanroom facilities prior to the pandemic. Then the pandemic hit and things quickly changed.

Suddenly, there was a need to implement steps to help keep essential workers safer, while still allowing people to buy groceries, visit the pharmacy, and take care of other essential needs.

Here at Enclosure Guy, we have adjusted and altered the products we manufacture to help meet the demand for plastic sneeze guards. While we still sell our popular line of vinyl patio enclosures, we have also expanded our operations to offer clear plastic sheets that can be used to create barriers.

The benefit of our clear vinyl barriers is it still makes it possible to see and hear guests and customers, while at the same time it protects employees from potential exposure to COVID-19. Our high-quality vinyl sheets are also easy to disinfect and clean. You simply spray them down with an approved disinfect and wipe them off.

What Businesses and Industries Are Using Clear Partitions?

Covid Vaccine Side Wall Curtain TentIt is amazing to see how resourceful a wide range of businesses and industries are when adapting to the new “normal” and finding new ways to create safe work environments using our custom protective sneeze barriers.

Emergency Rooms & Hospitals

Protective barriers can be placed between patient check-in areas and healthcare workers. In addition, the barriers can be hung in waiting areas to help promote better social distancing and keep people apart, as needed.

Emergency rooms can also use portable designs they can set up around potential COVID-19-infected people to limit exposure and protect nurses, doctors, and other patients. In the ICU, these same “tent-like” setups are also used.

Doctors’ and Dentists’ Offices

In these healthcare offices, the plastic barriers can be used to protect receptionists from patients checking in for appointments. They can also be hung on open “triage-like” exam rooms, where each room might have three sides, and then a curtain is drawn on the open end. Installing a clear plastic sheet on the open side further enhances safety measures.

Retail Stores

As retail stores reopen, installing plastic sneeze guards around cashiers is necessary. Ideally, there should be one partition between the cashier and customer and another partition behind the cashier and checkout lane behind them if it not possible to keep every other checkout lane closed. Customer service counters and in-store order pickup areas also benefit from clear partitions to protect employees.

Grocery Stores

Grocery stores were quick to install partitions and barriers around cashiers, customer service counters, meat counters, deli counters, and other such areas to limit direct contact with customers. In addition, many stores have implemented “one-way” shopping to ensure customer traffic flows in one direction down aisles.

Public Transportation & Buses

Various forms of public transportation and buses adapted vehicles to create safety barriers between people and operators. For example, on buses, our vinyl plastic clear partitions were hung from the ceiling and go to the floor to create a barrier between the bus driver and people getting onto or off the bus.

Restaurants

As restaurants start to reopen dining rooms, the use of clear plastic barriers is essential. The barriers can be hung in between tables to protect guests while they enjoy their meals. Since they are clear, the guests will not feel like they are boxed in and can still easily see out. They can also be used for takeout counters and fast-food restaurants to limit contact with customers.

For buffet-style restaurants that already had sneeze guards over food, the need to add another protective layer between food and guests is vital. Buffets must also alter how guests go through the line to get food, where an employee puts the food on the plate while being protected behind the barrier and, at the end of the line, slides it under another barrier that has an opening at the bottom.

HVAC & Plumbing Services

Bus Sneeze Guards Clear Plastic

Heating and air conditioning technicians and plumbers can take added steps to protect themselves and their employees when providing residential and commercial services with “portable clean rooms.”

This type of clear barrier can be set up in the home or business in doorways, or custom protective sneeze barriers can be created that provide a barrier on two, three, or four sides.

Manufacturing Facilities

Plastic partitions can be installed in between workers on the production line when they are not able to maintain a safe 6-foot social distance from one another. The barriers should be used along with other PPE.

This is just a sampling of how different industries and businesses can use our clear plastic sheets to help promote safer working environments for employees and customers alike.

Pharmacies

Many pharmacies that did not already have barriers in place have installed plastic sneeze guards at drop-off and pick-up windows. They also installed them around their photo counters, cosmetic counters, and cashier lanes.

Residential Uses for Plastic Barriers

Our custom proactive sneeze barriers can also be used in the home. For example, one popular use is to hang the clear vinyl barrier on the outside of the front door. This way, when you open the door to accept packages, grocery delivery, etc., you have a protective barrier between you and the person making the delivery.

This allows you to speak to them without having direct contact with the individual. You can instruct them to place your delivery on the porch where you can retrieve it after they have moved more than six feet away.

If someone in your home tests positive for COVID-19, you can use our plastic sheets to better quarantine them in a separate room and create a plastic quarantine bed chamber and reduce the risk of potentially spreading the virus to yourself and other family members.

Enclosure Guy is doing our part to help residential homes, businesses, hospitals, and more to implement better health and safety measures to help reduce the risks of spreading the coronavirus.

Please feel free to contact us at (830) 445-4500 today! We would be happy to discuss your clear partition needs and help create custom protective sneeze barriers to fit your specific needs.