Governments worldwide are working on detailed plans for the “new normal” of life during - and after - COVID-19. Although different regions may be in different phases, it's good business to plan ahead and be ready for what's ahead. Here in BC, the provincial government has released a multi-phase plan for restarting the economy and these plans put the onus on individual businesses to plot their path forward safely, responsibly, and carefully.
As businesses begin planning for...
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The warehouse is one of the most unglamourous - but most necessary! - parts of business operations. The top priority for most warehouse floors is durability: a warehouse floor needs to stand up to extra heavy duty traffic from people, pallet jacks, forklifts, and pallets and stacks of inventory. Most warehouse floors require a flooring choice that isn't vulnerable to chipping, cracking, or pick-up from hot tires on forklifts or vehicles. Forklifts are incredibly hard on...
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As of last week (July 3, 2020), WorkSafeBC has levied COVID-19 related Health & Safety orders against 334 businesses here in BC - with nearly a third of them being against service industry businesses.  Hair salons, schools, hospitals, gyms, hotels, restaurants, and other similar service industry businesses have accounted for 104 of WorkSafeBC's recent H&S orders due to inadequate responses to COVID-19 protocols.
The next most-common offending industry is manufacturing with 82 orders issued, which includes meat processing, breweries,...
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More often than not, the part of your building that customers notice first upon entering is your floor. Clean, tidy floors with well-kept entrance matting gives clients an impression of care; they suggest that your facility prioritizes appearance and make the customer experience a priority. On the other hand, dirty floors and sloppy mats can have the opposite effect - if the areas your customers can see look shoddy and badly-kept, how bad must things be in...
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Now that offices and businesses are starting to reopen, many parents are beginning to need daytime childcare again and daycare facilities are starting to reopen. With nearly every child coming in from a different household, daycares are particularly vulnerable to becoming a hot spot for coronavirus transmission as parents enter and leave to drop off and pick up their children.
The one common touchpoint that absolutely every parent and child comes into contact with is the floor...and...
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As part of a controlled, safe restart of normal operations, the Provincial Health Officer and WorkSafeBC have issued guidelines for how workplaces can manage the risk of spreading COVID-19 as people return to workplaces and retail businesses reopen. Although these guidelines are intended to cover most circumstances, they're not a definitive list. Harry Bains, the BC Minister of Labour, urged businesses to develop their own processes and safety plans based off of provincial guidelines.
“The guidelines were...
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Cleaning and disinfecting are part of a broad approach to preventing infectious diseases in public settings. To help slow the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases individuals should stay home when sick, cover coughs and sneezes, and wash hands often. Below are tips on how to reduce the spread of COVID-19 specifically through cleaning and disinfecting.
Cleaning removes germs, dirt, and impurities from surfaces or objects. Cleaning works by using soap (or detergent) and water to...
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At first, it doesn't seem obvious why you need sanitizing mats at your building entrances.
"I don't bend down and touch the floor, so it's fine."
"Why should I care about whether or not my floor is contaminated with COVID-19? I don't walk around doing handstands."
What most people don't realize is that the contamination danger isn't in direct, primary contact with your floor;Â the danger is in "secondary" contact with the floor.Â
How often have you put your purse or...
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Cleaning has never been as important or thought of as often as it is right now. At the beginning of quarantine, we noticed a sharp uptick in the search volume of how to clean and disinfect flooring- especially soft surfaces, so we updated our blog content to remind consumers of the proper cleaning steps and materials for all flooring surfaces, as well as what Health Canada is currently recommending for disinfectants.
As your stores begin to open...
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As BC moves into Phase 2 of it's post-COVID-19 reopening plan, the closures and restrictions put in place by the regional health authorities are beginning to relax. Many condominium and strata boards are unsure what their responsibilities are when it comes to minimizing the chance of contagion in their common areas and shared facilities, like on-premises gyms, pools, and other shared social spaces.
Veronica Franco, a lawyer with the Clark-Wilson law firm, says that the "duty of...
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The Province of BC ordered restaurants to close dining rooms in late March due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s been a very long seven weeks! Although restaurants were allowed to continue takeout and delivery service, most restaurateurs are looking ahead and planning to resume services as the government begins to ease some of the COVID-19 restrictions.  There’s still a number of details to be worked out, like boosting staffing, implementing new health protocols, and creating...
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Although apartment buildings don’t face the same COVID-19 challenges as retail stores, they still have to deal with hundreds of residents coming and going every day. Public health and safety is everybody’s concern, and keeping commonly-touched surfaces as sanitary as possible is in everybody’s best interest. Here’s five reasons why sanitizing door mats should be part of your apartment building’s health safety strategy:
1. The floor often gets forgotten.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently...
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