Keells leading the way with ‘safety of everyone’

Cashier with face shield, mask and gloves 

• Safety and hygiene standards implemented adhering to Ministry of Health guidelines
• Customers to wear masks and sanitise/wash hands as they enter the stores
• Separate queue for elderly customers
• Stringent cleaning routines and safety measures for team

As the COVID-19 pandemic challenges the way of life for all Sri Lankans, safety and hygiene has been at the forefront for all during these challenging times. Keells as a retailer, is leading the way with many measures to ensure the safety of customers, team members and with even guidelines for safe home deliveries. 

To reassure all customers who wish to shop at Keells, many measures have been implemented in line with the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Health. Mandatory face masks, handwashing/sanitising facilities prior to entering the stores, social distancing measures are a few, as customers queue to enter the store. As the elderly is a vulnerable segment within the population, a dedicated queue for them has been defined to ensure they can go in to shop faster. Self-service facility at the bakeries will be discontinued and a team member is assigned to serve customers to avoid contamination. Whilst the number of customers at any given time inside the store will be limited to 15, customers are also encouraged not touch weighing scales and seek assistance of team members. Encouraging contactless payments, introducing express counters and temporarily discontinuing all touch enabled screens for customer use are a few other measures implemented to ensure overall, safety and hygiene is maintained. 

Keells stores will also close earlier than usual to allow time for the teams to clean up the stores. Stringent cleaning routines have been established to ensure surfaces such as checkout counters, weighing scales, freezer handles, door handles and trolley and basket handles are cleaned often. 

Taking one step further, Keells has also ensured that a separate safety guideline is in place for delivery persons, to ensure customers who do not wish to venture out and continue to order online, also have access to products via a safe delivery method. 

Safety of team members is also of significant importance. Starting from providing a consistent supply of face masks, gloves and hand sanitisers, the teams were also trained and made aware via online videos and recordings of the measures required to ensure safety and hygiene, not just at work but also at their accommodations. Temperature checking equipment is available at all stores to monitor employees entering the store and protective shields are being rolled out to team members who interact with customers. 

In order to provide customers with more information about these measures, Keells has created videos to keep the public informed, and posted these on the official Keells Facebook page. As emphasised by John Keells Group President Retail Charitha Subasinghe, “It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of our customers and team members alike. We would like to encourage our customers to also join us in this effort to adhere to these measures so we can overcome this challenging time period together.”