Tips for Designing a Perspex Partition to Protect Your Employees

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As the coronavirus has spread throughout the world, business owners have had to get creative at slowing the transmission of this disease, and if you have employees that work with the public, you may want to put a perspex partition between your employees and your customers. 

Although this is not a foolproof protection method, it can help to reduce some of the risks of airborne transmission. While designing your perspex partition, keep the following tips in mind. 

1. Think about dimensions

The first element to consider is how big you want the partition to be. To answer this question, go into the area where you plan to put the partition and go through the motions your employees use when talking with customers. 

For instance, if you own a petrol station and your employees are running a point of sale system, you want a partition that will prevent customers from breathing on your employees. In that vein, the partition needs to be tall enough to create a barrier for people of all heights, and it also needs to be wide enough to cover the majority of the area. 

Don't create a set up where your employees and customers will just engage with each other on the side of the partition. You want to ensure that they keep this barrier between them.

2. Choose a mounting strategy

Once you identify your basic dimensions, you need to decide how to mount your perspex barrier. The two main options are hanging it from the ceiling or mounting it  to a surface. Think about how each of these options will affect your workflows. 

For instance, is a hanging partition likely to swing back and forth and potentially become a hazard? Is a countertop mounted partition going to get in the way of your point of sale system or your displays? Look at the pros and cons of both options.

3. Consider items that need to pass through the partition

Do any items need to pass through your partition? For example, your customers may need to be able to hand cash to your employees.

Make a list of everything that needs to pass through the partition and then identify the best strategy. In most cases, you may just want a cut out in the partition. This way your customers and employees can hand each other items, but the partition still helps to block most of the air going between these two people.

4. Decorate the partition

Perspex is a clear acrylic material, and like glass, it can sometimes be hard to see. To let your customers know that the perspex is there, you may want to add a few stickers or other decorations. Consider using this space to remind your customers about safe practices or to follow social distancing guidelines. 

Alternatively, you may want to use the perspex as part of your branding strategy. To do that, you may want to put up stickers or logos advertising certain products or items that reflect the vibe of your brand identity. 

5. Create a sanitizing strategy

After you've decided on all the essentials for your perspex partition, you need to think about how you're going to clean this partition. When you order the partition, the manufacturer can give you tips on the best sanitizing strategy, but you need to decide how to implement that strategy. 

You may want your employees to simply wipe down the partition a few times during the day. If so, remind them to use hand sanitizer after cleaning it and before touching their mouth or eyes. Or, you may want to be able to remove your partition, soak it in a cleaning solution, and then return it. In this situation, you may need an extra partition to use when the original one is being cleaned. 


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