Published: Tuesday, March 17, 2020
To our valued Employees, Guests, Customers, Partners and Suppliers:
The World Health Organization has declared the COVID–19 outbreak to be an official global pandemic, which will trigger many events initiated by governments, communities and corporations around the globe.
Here at home, our biggest concern is for the health and welfare of our dear and valued employees, visiting guests, customers, partners and suppliers. We want everyone to be safe and therefore have taken the following measures to protect our people and mitigate risk:
- Increased awareness about COVID-19 through ongoing communication with our staff.
- Encouraged frequent hand hygiene, sneeze and cough etiquette, and staying home when ill.
- Employees will be mandated to stay away from the workplace for a minimum of 14 days and until cleared medically if symptoms present themselves
- Business travel has been suspended internationally, any employee who has travelled internationally (business or personal) will be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
- Any employee travelling within Canada personally is responsible to self-assess and determine if self-isolation is warranted.
- Cleaning standards in our production, retail and office environments are stringent but have been enhanced with particular attention to high-touch surfaces, such as:
- o Doors/Entrances
- o Desks/phones/computers
- o Kitchens/serving stations/tasting bars
- o Cash counters, registers/debit machines
- o Restaurant tables (reduced seating and increasing distance between tables)
- o Menus (access on personal devices or one time only paper copies)
- Increased the number of hand sanitizing dispensers in prominent locations throughout the workplace and increased proper handwashing signage.
- To minimize social contact, we are adjusting policies to allow for:
- o flexible hours
- o working from home
- o Canceling non-essential meetings/gatherings in favor of teleconferencing/web conferencing.
- Preparing for increases in absenteeism due to illness among employees and their families or possible lengthy school closures.
- o Enhancing our business continuity plan for how to maintain key functions if faced with high absenteeism.
- o Cross-training personnel to function in key positions.
We hope this gives you confidence in the actions we are taking. We will continue to follow the guidelines of both provincial and federal agencies and adjust our protocols as the situation develops.
Let’s all work together to be safe, healthy and considerate as we navigate this challenging time!
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