We have seen the impact of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) become more acute over the past few days and I wanted to take this opportunity to outline how we are responding to this unprecedented situation. Protecting the health and safety of our employees, members and the community at large is our number one priority as we navigate through this situation. This morning the Executive Committee of Hensall Co-op met with the Emergency Preparedness Team to put certain actions and policies into place in response to the outbreak. We will be using every tool at our disposal to slow the spread of COVID-19 to protect our employees, members and customers while ensuring we don’t disrupt our essential services within the supply chains we currently serve.

Hensall Co-op is a global company working within food companies around the world and our products and services are essential to the supply chains of our local livestock and farming industry. This outbreak is occurring as we approach the spring season for our members and customers. We recognize the need to have employees and services in place to provide our critical services to our members and customers. We firmly believe the precautions we are implementing are prudent without limiting our ability to provide the services we need to.  

The situation is fluid and will remain so, but at this time we have implemented the following measures:

VISITORS TO HENSALL CO-OP LOCATIONS

• Screening stations will be placed at key entrances to our facilities
• Non-essential visitors will not be granted access to Hensall Co-op facilities. If you have are not clear as to whether your business is essential or not, please contact us via phone at 519-262-3002 or 1.800.265.5190 for guidance as we will be continually reviewing the determination of essential and non-essential services

EMPLOYEES AND OUR WORKPLACE

• We are encouraging all employees to implement social distancing and we ask your understanding as we change the way we interact with our customers; for example, we will request a teleconference rather than face-to-face meetings
• We are monitoring travel advisories from Health Canada and a comprehensive business travel ban is in place

MEETINGS AND TRADE SHOWS

• We will be cancelling or postponing all non-essential meetings
• We will not be attending trade shows until further notice

RISK MANAGEMENT

The outbreak has created substantial volatility in all commodity and financial markets. Hensall Co-op has a risk management committee that continues to monitor markets and risks daily and meets weekly. This committee was put in place to ensure our risk management processes are being adhered to and that we are protecting the assets of Hensall Co-op. 

This is an extraordinary situation and demonstrates how quickly our world changes. Rest assured that we are monitoring the situation and we are dedicated to protecting the health and safety of our employees, our members and our industry while protecting the assets of Hensall Co-op and its members.  We will continue to provide updates as the situation changes.