Online shopping is currently the king in kingdom of consumerism. It’s not difficult to ascertain why: we lower the risk of being exposed to or spreading the virus, in many cases we have more options accessible, and it allows us to support local stores that aren’t able to operate traditionally right now, or don’t have the start-up for physical locations.
However, along with the thrill of the online till, there are some additional rules for couriers and deliveries under South Africa’s adjusted level 4 lockdown.
Communications and digital technologies minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has published said additional rules, and indicated ina government gazette on Wednesday (7 July) that these ‘additions’ should be read alongside the existing regulations which were published in May 2020.
Here’s a summary of the additional rules as per BusinessTech:
- Couriers must be thermal scanned daily and must sanitise throughout the day;
- All equipment and materials used must be sanitised more than once daily;
- Courier drivers must be equipped with face masks;
- Sanitisation processes must be in place upon actual delivery of parcels and other items to consumers;
- Vehicles must be sanitised daily before the commencement of a shift;
- All directions in respect of health protocols and social distancing to prevent the exposure of persons to Covid-19 must be adhered to from packaging and distribution to delivery.
The current regulations also confer that:
“Courier and delivery personnel must maintain at least one and a half metres distance from other drivers and customers when making deliveries.”
“Courier and delivery service personnel are also prohibited from entering the home of a customer if such customer and any other residents within the immediate vicinity are not wearing a cloth face mask or a homemade item that covers the nose and mouth,”
BusinessTech reminds.
Additional requirements for retailers include:
- Retailers must provide for as many payment options as possible for consumers, that are based on reducing risks of transmission, and enabling poorer consumers to access delivery services.
- When packaging goods, retailers must provide written guidelines for customers on how to safely disinfect their goods before use.
- Retailers must put in place collection protocols to ensure that adequate social distancing is maintained by courier or delivery service personnel when collecting goods from a warehouse or depot.
- All goods must be sanitised, in line with the guidelines published by the National Department of Health, before leaving the warehouse or depot.
As per BusinessTech.
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