Rentokil Initial South Africa’s COVID-19 Contingency Planning

We are aware that with the rapidly changing status of COVID-19 in South Africa, many customers would like to know what Rentokil Initial's business contingency planning looks like.

Limiting the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) is South Africa’s top priority at the moment, and we would like to reassure all of our customers that Rentokil Initial South Africa is committed to doing everything we can to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus - while ensuring you continue to receive the high level of service you expect from us.

Rentokil Initial globally have established a team of senior managers to coordinate our response efforts and create a defined plan for keeping everyone - both our colleagues and customers - safe. With the assistance and proactive engagement of this designated global task team, Rentokil Initial South Africa is committed to focusing its efforts on creating awareness in colleagues and customers and minimising risk at both our own and our customers’ sites.

Actions Taken Against the Spread of COVID-19:

We have already implemented all the relevant recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as those outlined in the Presidential address on 15th March 2020, including:

• Training sessions with all colleagues on COVID-19, its symptoms, means of infection and ways to minimise the spread of the disease
• Hand sanitizer dispensers have been installed in all of our sites and we have issued personal units to our front line colleagues
• All reception desks are equipped with hand sanitizer for visitors, and visitors will be required to sanitise before being allowed to enter the building
• Implementation of a visitor questionnaire at reception to further minimise risk
• All of our buildings will receive antibacterial fogging treatments every two weeks
• We have increased the frequency of vehicle washing and interior vehicle sanitation
• Increased awareness through infographic posters, email and mobile communication updates to colleagues
• Whenever possible, meetings are being conducted via Google Hangout to limit large gatherings in shared spaces
• We are also encouraging those colleagues who can, to work from home to promote social distancing
• International engagements have been cancelled and colleagues are only permitted to travel provincially after motivating their requirements and with sign off from Senior Management
• Minimising the risk to our colleagues by ensuring that all front-line colleagues have access to the best personal protective equipment (PPE) and stringent hand hygiene guidelines

A local Emergency Response Committee has also been appointed, which will meet weekly to review these measures and put additional measures in place should they become necessary.

Product Lead Times Impacted by COVID-19:

We want to assure our customers we are investigating every available avenue in terms of products and services that are effective in the fight against the Coronavirus. Our global procurement team is working hard with our external supply chain to maintain normal stock holdings.

Chinese manufacturing is starting to recover, and European manufacturers are ramping up, however, due to the exceptionally high demand for products such as hand sanitiser at this time, we are still experiencing longer lead times than our customers have come to expect. We are working closely with all of our suppliers - nationally and internationally - to try and minimise these lead times. We thank you for your patience and support during this unprecedented time, we will continue to communicate lead times with you.

Precautionary Service Offerings:

As a hygiene business, we are equipped and trained to limit the risk of cross-contamination on your premises and both our Initial and Rentokil businesses can provide precautionary fogging and deep cleaning services. If required kindly contact your account manager or email us on initialza@rentokil-initial.com.

We also offer free poster downloads from our Initial website that customers can use in their own organisations to encourage good hand hygiene practices.

Rentokil Initial Colleagues on Your Premises:

We are aware that many businesses are concerned about the risk inherent in having service providers’ staff on their premises at this time. We would like to assure you that as a Hygiene business, all of our colleagues (including colleagues in our Pest and Plants divisions) have been fully trained on how to minimise the risk of cross-infection, and are equipped with full PPE, meaning that you can rest assured that we are not adding any additional risk to your business in the provision of services. Added to which, our Hygiene colleagues are actively working to bring you hygiene solutions that prevent the risk of cross-contamination in your business.

However, should you have a potential or actual infection on your site, please confirm the account number and site address with us as soon as you are able via initialza@rentokil-initial.com. Our teams will work with you to identify how we continue to service your site whilst you complete your disinfection/contingency action plan.

We respect that your organisation may have put measures in place that limit external suppliers entering your premises. We ask that you kindly notify your servicing branch in writing if this is the case so that we can inform our service teams.  In order to limit the disruption to your normal service offering as per our service level agreement with you,  we ask that during this time our technicians continue to be provided with access to your sites to ensure that they are kept hygienic and pest free.

In the meantime, we encourage all of our customers, their friends, and families to follow the WHO guidelines on good hand hygiene practices and preventative social distancing. These are the most important things we can do to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 in South Africa.

If you have any specific questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via your normal contact channels. Subscribe to our blog for regular updates sent to your inbox.