Bars, restaurants in Kenya to undergo Covid health and safety training

The Coca-Cola System in Kenya in partnership with Amref Health Africa and the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) has kicked off a campaign to provide COVID-19 health and safety training to bars and restaurants in Nairobi County to help control the spread of the virus and provide a safe environment for staff and customers.

“We know that it hasn’t been easy for eateries, bars and restaurants, especially those that fall under the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises category that had to close in adherence to government directives during the initial months of the pandemic. To support them to get back to business and with continuity, we are partnering with like-minded partners like NMS and Amref to invest back into these small giants of our economy who are the back bone of Kenya’s resilience,” said Ampher Apidi, Experiential Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa during the kickoff event held at Pit Stop Bar and Grill in Lang’ata, Nairobi.

“We are delighted to be part of this noble initiative that will contribute to ensuring that businesses comply with national health and safety guidelines which will also support our economy to grow again. We are empowering traders with the knowledge that enables them to operate safely while ensuring they maintain a safe space for their customers. This is being done through an easy to understand training curriculum and application of a set standard of operating procedures,” said Martin Muchangi, Amref Health Africa Program Manager.

The health and safety training campaign component, which is part of Coca-Cola’s ‘Open Like Never Before’ (OLNB) Campaign’ will be rolled out in other counties early in the year and is also providing the outlets with personal protective equipment including masks and face shields, handwashing jerrycans, sanitizers, and garden furniture to enable them to enforce the required social distancing.

They are also being provided with communication and awareness materials related to COVID-19 safety and precautions.

“It is hard to know someone’s COVID-19 status especially if they are asymptomatic. It is therefore very important to provide eateries with this type of training to enhance prevention measures not only to protect the customers but their workers and families as well,” said Caroline Magiri, IPC Coordinator Manager, NMS.

The training which is targeted at business owners and their workers including waiters, bartenders, cleaners, and kitchen staff focuses on the Coronavirus stages of infection, prevention and control ranging from personal hygiene, use and care of PPEs, how to clean hands and surfaces in the eateries, how to dispose masks belonging to them and their customers as well as enforcing social distancing within the premises.

Some of the Nairobi sub-county outlets scheduled for the training include those in high traffic areas like Ruaraka, Embakasi East, Embakasi West and Kamukunji.

The overall OLNB campaign, which was launched in October 2020, is targeting 18,000 trade outlets across the country.

Article first published on kbc.co.ke