Over the years, we have trained dozens of food services organizations on a wide variety of topics, including cleaning and food safety. So I always watch the staff in my local coffee and sandwich restaurants for their level of efficiency, customer service and use of job aids  (OK, maybe I need a life!).

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, I have added a new dimension – how safe are they? This behavior is not me being paranoid; it’s just common sense. We all have to be pro-active and make judgment calls to protect ourselves and our families.

What I saw recently led me to believe that there’s a real need for these organizations to provide some basic Coronavirus safety training to all their managers and staff.

“There is currently no vaccine to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to this virus.” – CDC website.

Why? Because in the course of buying a coffee, I saw many behaviors that the CDC recommends avoiding.

These include:

• Not washing hands despite touching money and public objects
• Close contact with customers
• No hand sanitizers for guests
• One place for food pickup that was touched by numerous guests
• Shared milk containers
• …and so on

Even though the current situation is very volatile, there is an opportunity to deliver customized safety and protection training, that ensures all managers and employees understand and implement safety measures that are specific to a business.

“The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person. Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).” – CDC Website.

This training can go beyond hygiene procedures to cover any aspect of their work that requires modified behaviors because of the current virus outbreak (e.g., cleaning, customer interactions, documentation, record keeping, etc.).

What this training potentially does:

• Ensures compliance with protection procedures
• Delivers measurable statistics
• Improves customer confidence
• Addresses employees concerns about workplace safety

It may seem crazy to even talk about this, but what I know, is that without proper training, we are relying on people’s willingness to find out what to do and implement it.

Some further reading:
COVID-19: What US business leaders should know
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)