Vape Cove Covid-19 Prevention Policy

The Covid-19 pandemic is still among us and with the latest stay-at-home order that the Ontario government has implemented in their attempt to slow down the spread of coronavirus, our stores are still available for curbside pick-up and in-store purchasing. With these two options still available, there is an increased risk that coronavirus disease can still spread.

We wanted to go over our Covid-19 Prevention policies which are meant to protect both our customers as well as our employees. We are taking infection prevention seriously with more steps than just the basic social distancing, hand sanitizer, and face covering in place. We are going to go over some things we have considered that will help you (and us at Vape Cove) keep each other safe from Covid-19 transmission

How will you ensure all workers know how to and are able to keep themselves safe from Covid-19 infection?

Ensure our Covid-19 prevention procedures are up to date by a daily review of Ministry of Health guidance. Making sure we study these procedures and stand by them. If we need to communicate with either employees or customers, we will contact them via email from their employee file or our customer database.  

How will you screen for COVID-19?

To find out if workers are well when they come to work, we will ask each worker basic questions about their physical health and symptoms using the provincial list of COVID-19 symptoms. In addition, we will have a COVID-19 screening sheet posted at our front entrance for customers to self-evaluate before entering the premises. For our customers, once we have completed the risk assessment, explained our preventive measures, and you don't appear to be an infected person we will let you in-store.

How will you control the risk of Covid-19 spread in your workplace?

Physical distancing and separation

We can only have 5 customers max in the store at one time, and they must be 6ft apart. In addition, each customer must ensure that their mask is covering their face upon entering the premises. If no mask is present the customer will be asked to leave the premises. 

Cleaning

• We would make sure our employees would be wiping down the payment terminal after every use. 
• Wiping the door handles once a customer enters or exits to decrease the risk of spreading the virus. 
• Cleaning the POS several times a day. 

Other

• Making it a requirement to enter the store with a mask (Including employees). 
• Keeping in mind to sanitize when entering or exiting the store as employees.  

What will you do if there is a potential case, or suspected exposure to, COVID-19 at your workplace?

If there is a potential case we will contact as many customers as possible through the use of our customer account system in order to let them know of a potential outbreak. We will also include within the email the Niagara public health unit's contact information. 905 -378-4647-Niagara Health.

If an employee gets the virus they must take a mandatory 2-week quarantine along with a deep clean of the employee's store location. The employee will not be able to re-attend work until the successful completion of their mandatory quarantine and a negative COVID-19 test result has been completed. 

How will you manage any new risks caused by changes to the way you operate your business?

We will establish regular check-ins with workers about how they’re coping with the change to shift work. We will also ask employees if they feel at a higher risk of infection and if they have in mind any additional safety measures that should be put in place and adjust accordingly. 

How will you make sure your plan is working?

To ensure our preventive measures are working we will schedule bi-weekly meetings with the Owner, GM, and workers to review our plan and possibly improve on certain aspects. If any changes are made we will immediately email all locations and staff and update them on the changes. 

Conclusion

These are the steps we are taking to ensure our preventive measures are solid and to make sure our customers and staff are all properly protected. Health is the most important thing, and we want to make sure Covid-19 transmission is something we lockdown. We hope this article gave you some peace of mind with how we are handling this situation. We can't wait for things to get back to normal once the Covid-19 vaccine is available for all, but in the meantime, we are all hanging in there. If you have any other questions or concerns leave us a comment down below! If you're still interested in any vaping paraphernalia we still offer curbside pick up as well as online shipping, so be sure to visit Vape Cove. If you want to talk to us directly you can message us on Instagram @vapecove.