SAFETY STATEMENT

Given unprecedented worldwide events, Vending-Machines.ie is continuing to monitor the Coronavirus (Covid-19) situation very carefully and we remain prepared to undertake proportionate actions as and when necessary. The safety of our employees, clients and consumers, as well as the communities in which we operate, remains our utmost priority.

We continue to follow the highest safety and hygiene standards and to comply with actions and advice from Public Health England (PHE).

Health and Safety remains under key focus and we have recently reviewed the following measures:

• Providing updated best practice and hygiene guidelines to our employees
• Having surface sanitisers, wipes and gloves available and where possible hand gels
• Advising all staff to wash hands on arrival and prior to departure from each visited location
• Instructed employees to follow HSE guidance regarding self-isolation, and where and if applicable to call the emergency number 112 or the equivalent
• Minimising business travel – a non-essential travel ban remains in place, in line with the current HSE and WHO guidelines.
• Face to face meetings are minimal, and are only permitted if in line with HSE social distancing guidelines
• We have requested that employees avoid travelling in line with World Health Organisation advice. Should travel be required employees will and are being asked to self-isolate

Our planning is progressing in respect of various scenarios arising and we continue to monitor developments daily. We will update this statement and guidance and undertake to notify any potentially affected clients or personnel at the earliest opportunity in the event of any diagnosis, impact or changes.

There are many questions naturally arising as a result of these circumstances and we wanted to share with you below the most frequently asked questions of Vending-Machines.ie at this time.

FAQs

Q Is it safe for you to continue filling our machines?

A: Yes, we believe that a controlled, safe service should prove to be a positive resource within your workplace, where staff can get refreshments without needing to travel into an open uncontrolled arena. Our employees are advised to maintain social distancing, wash hands on arrival and before departure. They also carry surface sanitisers and cleaning agents to maintain as safe an environment as possible.

HSE guidance states that for person to person transmission, the most likely means is being within 2 metres for 15 minutes. This is an unlikely scenario for our service provision. However, all our staff are maintaining social distancing in line with current government guidelines, in addition to good hand hygiene and surface sanitising remaining our best means of protection and defence. We are willing to explore alternative hours to avoid peak interaction with client staff, or additional visits to maintain increased demand on a case by case basis.

Q What if we rely on your service to our health facility or hospital?

A: We are aware that in some environments and specific locations we are considered an essential service and may be asked to maintain services even in the event of wider restrictions, like seen in Italy. In this circumstance we will be in consultation with The HSE or local authorities to establish permissions and to act to maintain services accordingly.

Q What if your staff, that visit our site, get coronavirus?

A: If any of our employees are diagnosed with COVID-19, we will of course notify any client potentially affected to discuss and agree next steps.

Q What if you get large numbers of staff that are ill or unavailable to fill our machines?

A: We remain aware that at some stage the coronavirus outbreak, or imposed government controls may have an impact on our ability to provide service. In the event we are affected by staff shortages in the field, we will initially be able to change rosters and visits patterns plus operating times to offer continuity of service and have put in place some contingency measures.

Q What PPE regulations have you put in place?

A: All of our staff that are visiting customer sites to either fill, clean and fix existing machines or to install new machines are equipped with disposable gloves (to be changed before entering a site and before working on each new machine), hand sanitiser, antibacterial sanitiser spray and bags to dispose of used gloves. We are constantly following government advice and are updating our working practices when new guidance is received from the Irish Government, HSE and/or any other relevant authority.

We are treating all our machines with Zoono Microbe Shield Surface which is proven to be 99.99% effective against Covit19.

Zoono products has been successfully tested against a variety of pathogens for up to 30 days on surfaces.

How Zoono works:

• Zoono bonds to the surface to create a protective layer
• This extra protective layer of tiny pins attacks pathogens
• The pathogens bursts like balloons on contact
• And you machine is protected

Q Will your staff wear a face mask?

A: WHO advice is “Only wear a mask if you are ill with COVID-19 symptoms (especially coughing) or looking after someone who may have COVID-19. If you are not ill or looking after someone who is ill, then you are wasting a mask. There is a world-wide shortage of masks, so WHO urges people to use masks wisely.” In accordance with this advice we believe masks are unnecessary. If clients have a PPE policy for face masks, we will comply, if you provide one under your visitor arrangements.

Q How will I place my orders or report faults if a call centre or my local office is closed?

A: Depending on restrictions that may be put in place by central government route planning and deployment of engineer calls, as some examples, can and will be conducted from remote or home locations via mobile phones, laptops through the VPN connected as normal to PDA’s and mobile handsets. Stock can be deployed or delivered remotely by utilising our wholesale and delivery network and couriers.

Q Is your supply chain adversely impacted?

A: We continue to be unaware at this time of any significant impact to our supply chain and hold enough stocks across our network and supply chain to deal with any local shortages.

WHO Web Guidance “The new coronavirus cannot be transmitted through goods manufactured in China or any country reporting COVID-19 cases. Even though the new coronavirus can stay on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days (depending on the type of surface), it is very unlikely that the virus will persist on a surface after being moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperatures.”

In these unprecedented times for all businesses, we continue to follow and adhere to HEE and Government led guidance in all cases. We will share further updates and communications on an ongoing basis as necessary. Meantime we ask that you please address any wider concerns to our dedicated email address info@vending-machines.ie

From, all of our employees, to all of yours, stay safe and well and please do not hesitate to contact us if we can provide any wider support.