Safely Handling Packaging After Lockdown

Handling Packaging Post Lockdown

In the past few weeks, lockdown restrictions in the UK have eased and returned back to some form of normality is looking on the horizon. Since March this year, the United Kingdom has been on a strict lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and many businesses across the country have been forced to temporarily closed, whilst we have also been strictly advised to remain indoors and abide by social distancing, a practice of remaining at least two metres away from a person who is not in your household. In the past week, the prime minister Boris Johnson has announced that in June schools will reopen, additionally to non-essential stores. As of the first of June, people are also allowed to visit other peoples gardens and see others in public in no more than groups of six. Social distancing is also advised for those visiting other people.

 

Although things are becoming back to normality, in no way must we act as if things are completely normal. We must all stay aware of the virus and take precautions to prevent the virus from spreading. Social distancing is the most effective way of doing this, however, it is also vitally important to minimise contact as much as possible. The more people in a specific area, the more likely that social distancing rules will be broken and the virus could be spread further. Many essential stores and non-essential stores have set out guidelines, such as marking on the floors for where people should stand to prevent social distancing from being broken. Although there are guidelines set out, it is still incredibly important that you are aware of yourself and keep at a safe distance from others. This way you are not just keeping your self safe, but others too and potentially saving lives.

Keeping Minimal Contact

 

Before purchasing a product, it is highly likely that you will pick the product up to evaluate what it is in terms of its use, ingredients, condition, texture, aesthetics, and so on. After lockdown, this may not be safe to do so for a short while when lockdown restrictions are eased. This is because if many people touch a specific item, it could have been touched by an infected person which may lead to the spread of the virus. When returning to stores, it is important to only touch items you are confident that you want to buy. If the product comes in packaging, then it important to disinfect the packaging when you return home. It may also be best practice to wash clothes or materials that you buy in stores. Additionally to this, you must ensure to not touch your face in public until your hands are entirely clean. Touching your face can be done mistakenly very easily. An example of this is answering or using your phone. This could then lead to you becoming infected if you have been in contact with the virus.

How Can Workers Keep Minimal Contact

Most workers have to make contact to do their job efficiently. In retail stores, workers will have to stack shelves full of products, meaning that there will be contact indefinitely. Contact is also very likely when working at checkouts and tills. If you have been in an essential store in recent weeks, you would have noticed guards being put in place to avoid contact at tills. You may have also noticed that all employees or just employees working at tills are wearing gloves. If you own a retail store, it may be worth your staff wearing gloves or installing guards to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Many takeaway food businesses have also remained open or have reopened during the lockdown. Preparing food requires a lot of contacts and strict hygiene measured have to be used at all times, not just during the pandemic. During a pandemic, it’s important that hygiene is considered more than other times to protect staff and customers. Not only this, but customers will also refuse to eat the food if they believe the staff have not been hygienic during the preparation. Like in supermarkets, it’s important that food staff wear gloves when preparing food and regularly change them. It’s also important to maintain social distancing and do not come in direct contact when serving customers.

How to Keep Packaging Hygienic

 

Packaging should only ever be touched when it is being unboxed or being used. It should never be consistently touched or be in direct contact with used packaging or unwashed hands. These restrictions must always be in place, even during times unlike the times we are currently living. You should also actively encourage staff and customers to sanitize their hands before eating. If you have disposable cutlery, it may also be worth encouraging customers to use this to eat their food using cutlery to minimise the risk of their hands touching their mouths.

Food Packaging UK

Wyatt and Ackerman offers an incredible range of personalised food packaging for your catering business including branded takeaway food packaging, and takeaway boxes and fish and chip boxes in addition to branded packaging and carrier bags for a multitude of other retail sectors, such as local grocery shopping, clothes retail and much more. If you are looking to reinvent the image of your brand and dominate your competition, choose Wyatt and Ackerman for all personalised sustainable food packaging. Our team of experts will carefully listen to your businesses requirement and goals for the new year then find the ideal solution for you. Call us today to enquire or for more information on our wide range of packaging products. 

 

More
articles

Contact us

Please fill in the following fields to let us help you find the right product. All information you send to us in this form is encrypted and will only be used to enable product selection.

Contact us
Data Consent

Contact us for a quote

Please fill in the following fields to let us help you find the right product. All information you send to us in this form is encrypted and will only be used to enable product selection.

Contact us for a quote
Data Consent