Covid-19 Update – 21 January 2022

Following Government messages regarding preparedness for an Omicron community outbreak in New Zealand, we want to update you on what we’re doing to keep people safe and keep the doors open – the mantra of our now well-experienced Covid-19 taskforce.

Since mid-2020 this taskforce has provided very effective stewardship through planning, communicating, and managing our response effectively in an ever-evolving environment.

As we face the next seemingly inevitable phase of this pandemic, we continue to closely monitor official advice and shape our planning to remain effective at all levels of the Covid-19 protection framework (New Zealand’s traffic light system).

At a minimum and subject to change, a move to “Red” under the Covid framework will see us take the following practical steps to keep our employees, contractors, and visitors safe:

• PPE use, social distancing, and review of operational work shifts at our warehouses.
• Customer collections will be suspended at all sites.
• Pre-arranged client/suppliers’ visits will be permitted under the following rules:
  • When on site, visitors must be symptom-free, wear a mask and maintain a minimum of 1 metre distancing.
  • All visitors are required to be fully vaccinated (Vaccine Passport required).
  • The Covid Tracer App must be used.

Every attempt will be made to adhere to service level expectations; however, deviations from these will be communicated. We would ask our clients to divert any peak sales campaigns during a Red light setting under the Covid framework.

We continue to work closely with our freight and courier partners who have robust plans in place to avoid the well-publicised disruption that last year’s snap lockdowns caused on their networks. However, despite the best planning and up-scaling, we have seen recent overseas examples of supply chains being severely affected by Omicron and we should remain prepared for possible delays.

We appreciate your ongoing support of our Covid-19 protocols and will provide further updates here as the situation changes.