Safety During COVID-19: A Priority at Abacus

The advent of covid-19 caused the implementation of certain practices/procedures in March/early April, 2020, which practices/procedures came about as a result of discussions with and suggestions from all Abacus personnel. The object of these practices/procedures was and continues to be the protection of the health of Abacus staff, and also to protect Abacus customers. The practices/procedures were instituted prior to and have been in place during the Ontario shut down – stay at home orders, and will stay in place until further notice (in all probability until the covid-19 pandemic is deemed over in Ontario by public health authorities in Canada, or a vaccine that is deemed safe by such authorities is readily available in Canada). The implementation of these practices/procedures is an extension of the normal operating philosophy at Abacus, which is that the safety of Abacus personnel and Abacus customers are always of primary importance. Finally, Abacus has legal advice that storage and warehousing was and is an essential service under the Ontario shut down order.

The Covid-19 practices/procedures include (which may be revised from time to time):

1. If any employee should ever experience any symptoms possibly linked to Covid-19, or feel unsafe owing to the pandemic situation, that employee will not be obligated to come to work until such symptoms or concern is resolved;
2. Customers will (again) have normal gate access from 6 AM to 10:30 PM daily;
3. The interior doors from the office vestibule and the warehouse to the Abacus sales and administrative office will always be kept locked; the exterior door to said office vestibule shall be open for public access and will contain necessary materials to complete any customer transaction;
4. All customer contact and sales shall be conducted as much as possible on a virtual basis;
5. The Abacus office personnel shall work separately and only be present on an individual basis while in the office, in order to maximize physical distancing:
6. All high touch areas, including counters, telephone, door knobs, sink, toilet, etc. in the Abacus office shall be disinfected by the person leaving the office at the end of a work day; as a precaution the same procedure shall be performed by the person starting at the beginning of each work day;
7. The gate entry pad and all high touch public areas in the warehouse shall be disinfected at least once daily for at least 5 days per week, and more often as may be possible;
8. All Abacus personnel must wear a face mask while on the Abacus site and in the presence of any other person while on the Abacus property
9. Abacus will supply and pay for personal protective equipment for Abacus personnel including face masks, face shields, disinfectant, and hand sanitizer.
10. Separately, all customers and visitors to the Abacus office are asked to wear a face mask or covering of some kind, and to not enter the Abacus property if they are experiencing any symptoms possibly linked to Covid-19, or if they have been outside of Canada in the 2 week period prior to visiting Abacus.