Employers to receive decal showing that staff are trained to follow health and safety best practices
British Columbia has launched a COVID-19 safety certificate program for workers in the tourism and hospitality sectors with hopes it will increase consumer confidence as businesses start to return to more normal operations.
The government is investing $640,000 to provide the training and organizations participating in the training program will receive a decal to make it easy for visitors to identify that staff have taken the training.
“This program will empower employees, visitors and communities to have confidence a business is following health and safety best practices as we work to slowly reopen while following the rules and putting an end to COVID-19 restrictions in B.C.,” says Melanie Mark, minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport. “The program was a call to action from the Tourism Task Force to clearly demonstrate to visitors that B.C. is a safe place to travel. BSAFE supports our restart and recovery efforts as we look forward to exploring our province again very soon.”
BSAFE course participants will be trained to:
understand COVID-19 primary modes of transmission, high-risk areas/activities and the importance of consistent application of controls and measures
- be able to resolve conflict situations arising from non-compliance of safety protocols by guests, coworkers and employers
- identify where to access relevant public health information and best practices for their workplace and community
- communicate personal responsibilities in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and maintaining a safe environment
- identify employer and employee responsibilities in ensuring a safe work environment during the pandemic, as well as principles to carry forward into the post-pandemic environment
- explain the importance of empathy – the positive impact of respectful behaviour, tolerance and understanding toward others
- demonstrate high-quality safety standards that show a venue is safe.
While 86 per cent of the C-suite think that their company demonstrated commitment to employees in 2020, over half of workers hoped their company would provide more support, according to a study released in January.
BSAFE is open to all businesses, but the program was specifically designed for the tourism and hospitality industry. Upon completion of the course, participants are awarded a certificate that demonstrates their knowledge of and commitment to COVID-19 health and safety.
“BSAFE is a turn-key, accessible solution that businesses of all sizes and regions can easily integrate into their training activities,” says Krista Bax, CEO of go2HR.
More than three in five (63 per cent) small businesses are considering using COVID-19 rapid screening in their workplace if it would help their business stay open, according to an earlier report.
