How can I prepare for cold and flu season?

5 October 2026

Cold and flu season can quickly lead to coughs, sneezes and increased sickness across workplaces, schools, care homes and other shared environments.

How can you prepare your workplace for cold and flu season?

The best place to start is with the basics: good hand hygiene, well-stocked washrooms, regular cleaning of high-touch surfaces and making sure employees have easy access to the right hygiene products including tissues.

In this guide, we'll take you through the practical steps you can take to improve workplace hygiene during cold and flu season.

When is cold and flu season in the UK?

Colds and flu become more common during the colder months, which means autumn is a good time for businesses to review their workplace hygiene procedures and supplies.

Rather than waiting until half the office is coughing and sneezing, preparing early gives you time to check stock levels, review cleaning routines and make sure staff have what they need to maintain good hygiene.

How can you prepare your workplace for cold and flu season?

There isn't one product or single change that will prepare your workplace for winter illnesses.

Instead, think about the different points throughout the working day where germs can potentially spread and where better hygiene practices can be encouraged.

Here are six areas to consider.

1. Encourage good hand hygiene at work

Regular handwashing is one of the most important everyday hygiene habits to encourage in the workplace.

Start by checking that your handwashing facilities are easy to access and always stocked with soap and a suitable method of drying hands.

During cold and flu season, employees may wash their hands more frequently. Because of this, it is worth considering the type of hand soap for your workplace, particularly if people are using it several times throughout the day.

For frequent handwashing, you may want to consider a pH-balanced moisturising hand soap, while workplaces that prefer an unscented option could choose an unscented antibacterial lotion soap.

The important thing is choosing a hand soap that suits your particular workplace rather than assuming one option will work everywhere.

2. Make hand sanitiser easy to access

What about areas where there isn't a sink nearby?

This is where hand sanitiser in the workplace can be useful.

Consider the areas people pass through or use regularly, such as entrances, reception desks, meeting rooms, communal areas and shared workspaces.

Providing alcohol-based hand sanitiser at convenient locations gives employees and visitors another way to maintain hand hygiene when handwashing facilities aren't immediately available.

Hand sanitiser doesn't mean you can forget about your washrooms, though. It should form part of your wider workplace hand hygiene approach rather than being the only measure you put in place.

3. Identify high-touch surfaces

Take a walk around your workplace and look at what people actually touch throughout the day.

You might be surprised by how many shared touchpoints there are.

Door handles, light switches, keyboards, phones, handrails, taps, shared kitchen equipment and communal desks can all be touched by multiple people.These areas should be considered when reviewing your workplace cleaning routine for cold and flu season. A hard surface sanitising wipe, is a quick antibacterial solution for all these surfaces.

Make sure your cleaning schedule reflects how your workplace is actually used and that appropriate cleaning products are readily available.

4. Keep your workplace washrooms stocked

Good hand hygiene becomes much harder when the soap dispenser is empty or there are no paper hand towels left.

Before cold and flu season gets into full swing, review your stock of:

• Hand soap

• Hand sanitiser

• Paper hand towels

• Toilet tissue

• Cleaning products

• Dispenser refills

You should also check that dispensers are working correctly and that the people responsible for replenishing them know where additional stock is stored.

If your workplace regularly runs out of products, it may also be worth reviewing whether the products and dispensers you're currently using are suitable for the number of people using them.

5. Choose hygiene products based on your workplace

What is the best hand soap for a workplace?

There isn't one answer.

The best option depends on where it is being used, how frequently people wash their hands and the requirements of your particular environment.

For example, a busy washroom may benefit from a foam hand soap designed for frequent use. A workplace where fragrance isn't suitable may prefer an unscented hand soap, while other environments might prefer a mild fragranced lotion soap.

Rather than simply buying the same product you have always used, consider:

How many people use it?

A busy workplace may get through handcare products significantly faster than a small office.

How frequently will people wash their hands?

Frequent handwashing may make a mild or moisturising formula more appropriate.

Is fragrance appropriate?

Some workplaces may prefer scented handcare, while others require or prefer unscented options.

Are you using the correct dispenser?

The soap itself is only part of the setup. Your dispenser should also suit the product and level of usage.

Choosing the right setup can make workplace hand hygiene easier to manage throughout the year, not just during cold and flu season.

6. Review your hygiene stock before you need it

One of the easiest ways to prepare for cold and flu season at work is simply to plan ahead.

Don't wait until coughs and sniffles are already making their way around the workplace before checking the stock cupboard. Look at how much soap, sanitiser, paper and cleaning products you normally use and consider whether usage is likely to increase during the colder months.

Having appropriate stock available means you're less likely to find yourself with an empty soap dispenser just when people are becoming more conscious of hand hygiene.

Cold and flu season workplace checklist

If you're preparing your business for the colder months, ask yourself:

✓ Are all of our handwashing areas fully stocked?

✓ Do our soap and paper dispensers work correctly?

✓ Is hand sanitiser available where it would be useful?

✓ Have we identified our most frequently touched surfaces?

✓ Does our cleaning schedule cover these areas?

✓ Do we have enough hand soap, hand towels and cleaning products in stock?

✓ Are our current handcare products suitable for the people using them?

✓ Do staff know where replacement hygiene supplies are kept?

If you've answered 'no' to any of these, that's a good place to start.

What hygiene supplies should you stock for cold and flu season?

The exact products you need will depend on your workplace, but most businesses should consider their supply of hand soap, hand sanitiser, paper hand towels, toilet tissue and surface cleaning products. You may also need to provide tissues, to catch any germs and stop the spread.

The goal isn't to fill a cupboard with as many products as possible. It's to make sure you have the right products, in the right places, in sufficient quantities for the people using them.

If you're not sure where to start, you can browse our workplace handcare range to compare different soaps, sanitisers and dispensing options.

Preparing for cold and flu season doesn't need to be complicated. A few checks before the colder months arrive can help you maintain good workplace hygiene and avoid scrambling for supplies once the sniffles start.