08/04/2020
The impact of the coronavirus on those people still have to go to work is significant; especially when insufficient action has been taken to provide adequate safeguards or when those they come into contact with fail to respect the new rules.
TfL have now started a trial whereby the doors by the driver will no longer be used for passengers to embark and disembark, and where passengers will be required to sit away from the driver.
I wonder why this has taken so long?
Protecting those who are working to help keep others going should have been the main focus of those responsible for the workers; whether it was the delivery of PPE for health and social services workers, distancing for transport workers or safeguards for shop workers.
I am appalled at the fact that some stores have, in my opinion, ignored the instructions to close unless they are classed as essential; basically food and medicines.
Wilkos stayed open because they sell some foods and basic medicines, as well as cleaning products which also could be considered essential. However, the vast bulk of what Wilkos sell cannot be classed as essential and, it would appear that most customers are buying decorating or gardening equipment; not medicines.
On the edge of my home town, The Range are open.
Why?
Apparently they sell some pet food... Well, just a few hundred yards from The Range there is a Pets At Home. They sell pet food, as well as products for the care of pets and, importantly, they even have vets in store.
The transactions of stores like Wilkos and The Range should be audited and if, as I suspect, their sales have been virtually all of non-essential items, they should be forced to close and required to pay compensation to any staff who fall ill.
In those stores that are legitimately staying over, why has it taken them so long to introduce additional measures to protect their staff? Screens have now been put in place at tills in some shops, but this wasn't implemented quick enough.
Shops are asking customers to pay using contactless methods wherever possible; and yet there are still some who are insisting on paying by cash.
I've seen people queuing up and using cashpoints, even yesterday when I went to pick my daughter up from her job at a supermarket.
Why?
These people are using cards to withdraw money from a hole in the wall, which they will then use to buy goods. This increases the risks to everyone who then has to handle that money; the cashier, those in the cash office doing the banking and those in the banks when they receive the money.
Lessons must be learnt. And those who have needlessly risks the lives of their staff and customers need to face questions.
Comments