How Partitions and Sneeze Guards Limit Illness in the Office

They once may have looked unusual and out of place—however, with the onset of COVID-19, partitions and sneeze guards have become the new normal across the country. They can now be found in small corner shops, massive chain stores, grocery stores, and workspaces alike. By using partitions and sneeze guards in the office, you can provide a safer environment for your employees. Whether it is to protect the safety and health of customers or employees, everyone deserves a healthy place to work, shop, and eat.
Have you ever wondered if investing in dividers is genuinely worth it? Or how they can limit the exposure and spread of illness in the workplace? We think these are great questions and we're eager to answer them for you!

Protect Employees With Sneeze Guards
Commonly seen in buffet restaurants before the start of COVID-19, sneeze guards were primarily used to protect uncovered food from the multitudes of people shuffling down the buffet lines. Now, the sneeze guard has evolved, redesigned to take on a new and essential role in protecting customers and employees from the spread of coronavirus. Sneeze guards can be used to create a breath barrier between employees and customers, especially when it's difficult or impossible to maintain six feet of space.

Most sneeze guards come in various styles, but are commonly transparent to allow seamless transactions while remaining as safe as possible. The concept may sound terribly simple, but it can have a major impact on an office's overall safety and sanitation. These acrylic panels can be installed virtually anywhere--attached easily to a desktop and cubicle walls or implemented as a trifold, freestanding desk shield. They can also be used as a rolling room divider or placed over counters, and you can even surround a work table with a freestanding guard.

Transparent sneeze guards allow your employees or customers to interact with one another from opposite sides while still seeing and hearing each other without direct physical contact.

How do Sneeze Guards Prevent The Spread of Germs?
The effectiveness of sneeze guards rests on a practical but straightforward concept. Using thin sheets of acrylic, they are hung or attached, placed or installed over a desk or service area so people may still interact. Speaking produces and expels droplets of saliva into the air when we talk to one another. The smallest of these droplets can be inhaled by other people and are one of the primary ways respiratory infections like COVID-19 is spread from person to person. Additionally, we produce droplets without a mask whenever we sneeze or cough.

A sneeze guard is a physical barrier between those droplets, whether from sneezing, coughing, or speaking. This concept doesn't just apply to COVID-19 but to many other standard office illnesses like colds and the flu.

In May 2021, two groups of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories published extensive papers studying droplets of liquid sprayed by coughing and sneezes and how far they travel under different circumstances. Both teams' findings reinforced the importance of wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, avoiding poorly ventilated indoor spaces, washing your hands, and how effective acrylic or plexiglass sneeze guards were. (1)

The lead computer scientist on the paper, Stefan Domino, said his team found that barriers offered protection from the larger droplets. When an acrylic sneeze guard was tested, computer simulations showed that larger droplets would cling to barriers, mitigating the risk of direct transmission.

How do Partitions and Dividers Help Lower the Spread of Illness in the Workplace?
If your business needs to have your employees in the office, it's vital to prioritize their safety and health by  reducing the potential to spread illness. Many viruses and other sicknesses spread very quickly and can be asymptomatic. While asymptomatic people carry and spread the virus without showing any symptoms, they're still infectious. They can transmit those viruses to others who may be far more vulnerable when exposed to infections.

If you've ever worked in an office, you've undoubtedly seen how quickly and easily illness can spread through the workplace. Social distancing can be difficult within an office, especially an open concept workspace. People are often in close contact, seated nearby, sitting at the same table during lunch or on break, back-to-back meetings in the conference room, etc. Even if one person is sick with a cold or flu and comes to work, it's often only a matter of a few days before others call out sick.

Partitions and dividers can help lower the risk of illness in the office by establishing and maintaining social distancing standards.

Social Distancing With Partitions and Sneeze Guards
Social distancing is likely to remain an essential part of keeping employees and customers safe for a long time. So how do you make changes to your workspace without the need to hire a contractor and pay for expensive renovations?

Fortunately, we offer a wide range of solutions for permanent or temporary partitions and dividers that can help reduce transmission by reinforcing social distancing at work. Office dividers and modular walls are:
• Exceptionally customizable
• Easy to disinfect and clean
• Easy to assemble rapidly or break down quickly
• Configured easily to fit nearly any office or workspace
These fantastic dividers come in sleek, modern designs, and some even offer noise dampening qualities, such as ReFocus's Acoustic Room Dividers. Modular partitions offer even more possibilities, such as entire walls and panels that feature frosted acrylic panels or transparent, magnetic whiteboards and acoustic panels—all of which are rearrangeable, allowing your employees to customize their setup as needed.

As you can see, when it comes to the safety of your employees and customers, room dividers, partitions and sneeze guards are simple but must-have additions. 

Are you ready to make these simple changes to your business to ensure everyone in the workplace remains happy and healthy? Stand Up Desk Store has the expertise and experience to help make that happen for you! Please feel free to reach out to us at any time! It would be our pleasure to talk to you about making your workplace safer and more secure.


Sources:
1. https://newsreleases.sandia.gov/covid_coughs/