In the coming weeks, many companies in central and northern New York will become eligible to reopen, but each individual business will first have to satisfy certain state regulations to once again serve their customers.
The state is mandating that employers prepare a written safety plan that outlines protective measures they will take to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Among other things, it has to include preparations for physical distancing, a mandatory health screening for employees, and a communication plan should someone test positive for the virus. The safety plans do not need to be submitted to the state, but business owners must have them ready in the event of an inspection and those who cannot comply with the mandates are not supposed to open.
To help businesses with the regulations, CenterState CEO has prepared an online guide with links to different resources. Andrew Fish, Senior Vice President of Business Development at CenterState, said businesses should start preparing these plans now as the reopening may require more than they might expect.
"People need to think about the realities of training their workforce again or finding ways to potentially place orders for protective equipment or signage or things like that," Fish said. "There’s the whole opportunity, or the whole challenge, with getting your workforce ready to interact with those customers. Your ability to have your employees or new employees come back to work has been triggered by the reopening phase, but you may not be in the situation necessarily where you’re ready to provide that great customer service or that great product until you have some ramp-up time."
The guide, called the Back to Business Re-Opening Toolkit, also offers recommendations for how business owners can do more than just meet the minimum safety and preparation requirements ahead of their reopening.
"Some of those strategic considerations can be the ones that people aren’t thinking through," Fish said. "They’re thinking about the immediate challenges and the immediate needs, so they might not be thinking about a new opportunity as it relates to remote work for their employees as part of a long-term solution where, potentially, there is an opportunity there for increased productivity, reduced overhead - all of those things long-term for businesses; thinking through some of the new lessons they have learned for their operations even post-Covid crisis."
Oswego County has prepared a similar online resource for businesses as well.
