By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Super Value’s principal yesterday praised the Ministry of Health’s just-published COVID-19 workplace guidelines for trying to keep businesses such as his - which sees 400,000 customers per week - safe.

Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business: “I think it’s a good idea if it will keep us safe, especially our industry, even after we would probably have 200,000 visitors twice a week - and that’s 400,000. We’ve been struggling to figure it out on our own.

“We were the first ones, but we saw in other countries where it is raging, and we put up signs that said ‘no mask, no entry’ even before the Ministry of Health said you had to wear a mask. Then we started social distancing and we started sanitising the hands, and now we’re taking your temperature. If your temperature is too high we turn you away.”

The Ministry of Health released new COVID-19 guidelines for the workplace on Tuesday, which ask businesses to undertake a self-assessment of their COVID-19 preparedness and readiness.

Dr Marceline Dahl-Regis, the COVID-19 task force co-ordinator and special advisor to the Prime Minister, said: “The Ministry of Health recognises that it is challenged to prepare policies, procedures and regulations for every workplace in The Bahamas. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that the Ministry of Health has published a set of recommendations for all business types entitled ‘workplace guidelines during COVID-19.”

Dr Dahl-Regis explained that the document features an assessment tool that permits each owner to determine whether their company is within the low, medium, or high-risk categories. She added that it details actions companies can take to comply with the recommended guidelines.

Firms can now go to the Ministry of Health’s website and click on Workplace guidelines during COVID-19, then download the assessment tool and, when completed, send it to the e-mail address provided.

The assessment tool is a three-page Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet that asks companies to rate themselves with regard to their “risk score”, their “mitigation score”, and then ranks them on their “overall readiness”.

Business owners who receive satisfactory scores are issued a certificate that can be placed on the walls of their operation to let patrons know they are COVID-19 ready and compliant. Certificates are valid for at least six months and can be re-certified. The Department of Environmental Health will carry out the necessary on-site inspections to ensure compliance and enforcement of the recommended guidelines.

Mr Roberts said: “I think this is a good idea. We have to look at it and see if there is anything that they are suggesting that we’re not doing.”