Practical, rapid, and cost-efficient interior architectural precautions for prevention of COVID-19 in the workplace

1Introduction

The onset of COVID-19 [1] has brought changes to the way in which people around the world interact with each other both indoors and outdoors. When it comes to the inside of a space, not so long ago, architects specializing in interior design needed time to create logical designs, which would satisfy the client’s requirements. Now, with the current pandemic, interior architects face the challenge of changing existing spaces in a fast, practical and cost-effective manner.

The Swiss architect Le Corbusier described tabula rasa as a blank canvas in which architects would freely create a novel concept from nada. The design, within this notion, has a specific place, which could be singular or pluralistic in nature, and therefore will be a key component of the architectural and site relationship [2]. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, the idea of tabula rasa became impractical. Therefore, the current challenge is to create designs that would not require to start from zero, but rather use what already exists (to help prevent the spread of COVID-19).

A recent study reported that approximately 10% of the workforce in the United States are in occupations in which infection exposure could occur once a week [3]. Given the nature of COVID-19, this number becomes hard to estimate due to the speed in which it spreads.

Although several countries took extraordinary steps to impose some form of lockdown, shelter-in-place or quarantine, there were still some businesses that were deemed essential and remained open during that phase of the pandemic. Both employees and customers in these essential businesses could be susceptible to viral infection due to the proximity needed to conduct transactions. For instance, a female employee, say at your local supermarket, could acquire the virus from an infected customer when accepting money at the register, and then accidently touching her eyes with her, now, contaminated hand; or even if the infected customer accidentally sneezed on her. Some literature suggested that COVID-19 was found to be suspended in the air, and also it can be transmitted via coughing and sneezing [1]. Although personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks, gowns or gloves can provide some level of protection to employees, they could still face the risk of contamination since COVID-19 may survive on surfaces such as metal, clothes and cardboards (Table 1). Another report suggested that COVID-19 could be present for up to seven days on the outward-facing side of a surgical mask [4].

Table 1

Illustrations of the approximate lifespan of COVID-19 on some surfaces [3]

Surface		COVID-19 approximate lifespan
Paper tissues and paper		3 hours
Copper (coins)		4 hours
Cardboard		1 day
Wood		2 days
Cloth		2 days
Stainless steel		2–3 days
Polypropylene plastic		3 days
Glass		4 days
Money bills (paper)		4 days
Outside of masks		7 days

The aim of this article is to suggest some practical, rapid and cost-effective changes to workspaces that could potentially reduce transmission of the virus. In addition, it will discuss how different plastic barrier designs can protect both employees and customers. And finally, how to improve money exchange methods, with the aim of decreasing potential sources of infection. In short, this article will mainly focus on effective ways in which minor changes in interior design can help decrease the spread of COVID-19.

2Methods

In most countries, a business transaction involves exchanging some type of currency between a customer and an employees on the other side of the counter (for instance, the cashier of your local favorite ice cream parlor taking your $10.00 bill and giving your $3.75 change back for a decadent two scoops of iced cream). Given the example, an employee could be either a COVID-19 carrier or become infected from a customer. Therefore, it is paramount to reduce the interaction between these individuals as much as possible.

In the next sections, this article will discuss some practical and fast changes that can be implemented in order to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Also, two different types of new barrier designs will be introduced.

2.7Rotating plate

Nowadays, it has become common place to pay for things with a smartphone. For instance in China, one can easily use an applicative (e.g. Ali Pay app) installed in a smartphone to simply scan a barcode to conduct a transaction. In the United States and Canada, some people opt for using Apple Pay. That being said, in several other places, hard currency is still the norm, and therefore, other concepts must be introduced in order to conduct a traditional cash transaction.

A possible novel concept is introduced in this paper called the rotating plate, which basically is an area designed for payment between the cashier and the customer. This is a PMMA-made rotating plate which would be placed in a slot/terminal in the middle of the transparent plastic barrier. Through this device, money, coins and other forms of physical payment can be safely exchanged. One key safety element of the rotating plate is the motion sensors which will automatically stray disinfectant onto the content in the intermediate area. The rotating plate could be beneficial in banks/currency exchanger outlets, convenience stores, as well as drugstores. (Figures 1–5). These precautions (Table 2) can be easily implemented at different workplaces since these are fast, practical and cost-effective.

Fig. 1

Plan view of the workplace without protection (the open areas are prone to contamination).

Fig. 2

Plan view of the workplace with PPMA shields’ protection (the green areas have been protected against contamination).

Fig. 3

Section view of the workplace with PPMA shields’ protection (the green areas have been protected against contamination).

Fig. 4

Before the application of PMMA shields.

Fig. 5

After the application of PMMA shields. The rotating plate included a sanitizer (posters and floor stickers have been applied).

Table 2

A list of interior architectural preventive precautions for workplaces

Precautions	Usage
Monitoring and recording the temperature	Using a digital wireless thermometer at the entrance of the workplace.
PPE	Masks, gloves, face-shields, work clothes.
Hand sanitizers	Mounted in the workplaces and refilled regularly.
Floor stickers	Keeping social and safe distance for the customers.
Posters	Preventive announcements for hygiene.
Transparent physical barriers	PMMA sheets to reduce human contact/interaction.
Transparent rotating plate	PMMA plates to reduce human contact/interaction in money/coin/credit card exchange.

3Discussion

During COVID-19, essential workers, as indicated earlier, could easily become vectors and spread the virus throughout the workplace and beyond. The more protected these workplaces become, the less likely COVID-19 will spread all over the world [13, 14].

To some extent, employers should be obliged to provide the means to ensure the well-being of their workforce [15, 16].

Another key aspect is to predict how individuals will behave in the workplace. For instance, valid questions can be raised to the extent in which employees are following the internal safety guidelines, and the use of PPE or even handwashing. Being able to predict how individual behave, will be crucial to contain COVID-19 [11]. The measures listed here should be taken by employers, in order to reduce the risk to employees [6].

The ventilation system is crucial considering that COVID-19 virus might be able to stay suspended in the air. That being said, it may be almost impossible to change existing ventilation system considering that any type of construction would be inconvenient and costly especially now that the pandemic is having a significant effect on the bottom line. Alternately, the use of ionizers may be beneficial, and they may be a powerful weapon as they are commonly used in the fight against hospital-acquired infection. Although two papers suggested that more research on the use of ionizers is needed, they could play a key role in the fight against COVID-19 [17, 18]. Although, a simple and economical approach would be to open windows and doors to let air circulate, in some buildings glass panels cannot be opened. Increasing the ventilation rates by opening windows may reduce the COVID-19 particles in the air [19].

Considering that construction and extensive re-design of spaces might be impractical due to time and cost. One viable alternative could be reducing the amount of personnel or employees present at work at the same time. In some companies like Facebook and Oracle, employees are allowed to work remotely. Since this might not be practical for some industries, it still would be a good idea to have different work shifts in order to reduce the amount of employees concentrated in the same area.

4Conclusion

A large number of workers still need to work during the pandemic. Workspaces should be re-designed to implement necessary preventive measures in an expedite way. These precautions should be considered when employers create action plans for this current pandemic or any future calamities [20].

Some practical and cost-efficient ideas are introduced in this paper. Employers in both developed and developing countries may be forced to re-design the workplace in order to reduce the infection risk. The action of businesses, through the implementation of steps suggested here, maybe become one of the keys in the fight against COVID-19.

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Funding

The author does not have any financial interest in the companies whose trade names are included in this article.