Over the past few months, the COVID-19 Pandemic has been stress-full for all. APF Cold Storage and Logistics has not escaped un harmed. A significant down turn occurred with our restaurant and pub trade. Our service centric (read that as employing lots of staff) bonded storage and distribution of refrigerated logistics in to venues around South Australia, and primarily Adelaide had a sharp decline. As a state, South Australia worked hard to do their bit. Everyone followed lock down procedures well, and now some form of normality has returned. Whilst this normal isn’t anywhere close to simmilar of where we were prior to the Pandemic, its a level of business, that allows us to be somewhat less anxious.
I am sure this is the same feelings across all businesses, whether it large of small, within the State.
At the moment, we see large amounts of COVID-19 cases interstate. We care deeply for our interstate counterparts, and we want nothing more than for the numbers to reduce daily in Melbourne. Realistically, that may take substantially time. And a measure that has peaked everyones interest is the mandatory wearing of masks. This is to reduce the spread in the community. The question that I discuss with our staff daily is; Should we be wearing masks?
When we have no active cases in SA, the risk of community transmission is low. But compare that to how quickly the cases increased in Victoria, and the statistics of 80% of community transmissions in Melbourne have been from the work place (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-19/workplace-coronavirus-transmission-in-victoria-in-aged-care/12470704), it causes you as a business to question if you are doing everything you can, for the safety of your staff, and the community.
At APF Cold Storage and Logistics, we pride ourselves on being a responsible business. We provide exceptional service, to enable our clients to get the most from their logistics. We are also responsible for providing refrigerated logistics that meet our customers stringent expectations. And part of our company ethos is to be responsible in the community. We harvest rain water, and solar to reduce our environmental impact. We choose local suppliers where possible, and ensure we keep as much economic spending within the State. And to be responsible for the wider community that we are in, should we introduce a strict mask wearing policy? And if so under what conditions?
If we were to wear masks, and then other businesses did the same, could we produce enough to keep up with demand. Or would we be using masks that should be kept for when they are ruled to be mandatory by the State Government?
As always, we are keen to hear what you think.