As the province allows some businesses to start opening up, there seems to be no shortage of questions .
The Kamloops Chamber of Commerce will be doing a video conference with WorkSafe BC this afternoon so business owners can get some clarity on reopening.
Executive Director, Acacia Pangilinan was on the NL Morning News and said each industry has different regulations and that’s causing some confusion. “Across the board we’re hearing what are the requirements going to look like in terms of reporting to WorkSafe? How much PPE are businesses going to have to have, not only for themselves and their employees but you know, to have measures in place for their customers.”
She says each industry has their own set of rules and their own set of questions. “The biggest question right now is that consumer and employee confidence. We want to make sure that people feel safe when they start to come back to their stores.”
“We definitely don’t want to send the province into a form of whiplash by doing it too quickly and then having to shut down right away due to another outbreak.”
Pangilinan says for business owners that won’t be able to make the conference, the Kamloops Central Business Imporovement Association will be holding another video conference with WorkSafe BC on Thursday.
One topic with a lot of questions is personal protective equipment.
How much do we need? And where can we get it? Those are the two we’re hearing the most.
Pangilinan says smaller companies and towns are having a particularly hard time. “So, we’re looking at a few different options right now. There’s some municipalities where they have offered to do a larger purchase so businesses can purchase direct from the municipality. Theses are in smaller communities where there maybe aren’t as many businesses.”
“I do know that the provincial supply hub received over a thousand requests for different businesses to add PPE supply to our supply chain. However, it’s not clear yet how the everyday business owner is going to be able to access that.”
“How do expect to manage everyone in this province needing access to PPE when a lot of our smaller, not for profit charities and smaller businesses don’t have the same buying power as some our larger companies so I think there’s still a lot of clarity that’s needed there.
Overall, Pangilinan says she feels optimistic owners will feel more comfortable once protocols are in place, adding the biggest cause for anxiety from COVID-19 is the uncertainty that’s come with the pandemic.
