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Langford urges local businesses to apply COVID-19 safety measures

Retail staff to wear non-medical-grade masks and face shields

April 9, 2020

cashier wearing mask — Staff in grocery stores must wear a mask or face shield, as part of a bylaw requirement in Langford starting April 20, 2020.

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Thursday April 9, 2020 ~ LANGFORD

by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News

The City of Langford is taking steps to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, and today is urging businesses to protect staff and customers by physical distancing and taking other appropriate safety measures.

That includes having staff wear non-medical-grade masks and face shields, especially those who handle and process food and groceries.

To support this advisory, the City is making available, at cost, masks and face shields for all business.

grocery checkout, physical distancing — Every-other checkout lane is open (and the others closed), as part of achieving physical distancing in a grocery store. [West Shore Voice News – March 2020]

Further to this mask and shield advisory, as of April 20, the following will be required of all businesses in Langford for the during of this pandemic:

Require both store entrance and checkout lineups be marked with tape or cones every two metres, indicating where customers should stand while lined up;
Require plexi-glass or plastic barriers be installed in a secure manner at all checkouts at locations between the customer being served and the cashier so as to create a physical barrier between the customer and the cashier and to prevent physical contact between the customer and the cashier;
Where a business has multiple checkouts, require at least two metres of separation between the customer at one operating checkout and the cashier at the next closest operating checkout;
Where business spaces contain aisles, require the aisles be marked to show which direction a customer should walk while at the business premises;
Require that clear signs (visible and easy to read) be posted indicating the maximum number of persons permitted in a store at any given time and limiting the number of customers to one person per sixteen metres squared of floor space open to customers;
Prohibiting the use of containers, reusable bags, or boxes provided by customers; and
Regulating the sale of bulk food items to ensure safe handling practices are used.

The above listed measures have been established to protect employees and customers from COVID-19. The City urges businesses to practice voluntary compliance prior to the April 20, 2020 City of Langford Council meeting, where the amended bylaw is anticipated to be adopted.

The City requests that businesses submit any response to these changes to aproton@langford.ca by noon on April 20, 2020.

The City may fine a business $500 per infraction for those that do not comply with the bylaw, but anticipates that all businesses will comply voluntarily so it will not have to use this punitive approach.

To help support businesses with these bylaw changes, the City of Langford has ordered a supply of floor decals including one-way arrows and physical distancing markers that will be made available at no cost to businesses. The City can also direct businesses to an installer of plexiglass shields.