Automotive Dealerships and COVID-19: Safety Q&A

There are many challenges car dealerships face when it comes to operating their business during the Coronavirus pandemic, while at the same time ensuring the safety of their employees and customers. An effective strategy for a dealership to use in combating this challenge is to create a task force, which is comprised of ownership or department managers. Stated below are crucial questions and tips to help formulate a strategy to help transform their business operations to be on a safer operating level.

You should first start asking yourself these key questions:

• Who can and can’t work remotely? Do the employees have the resources they need to work from home? Think about all the necessary communications and measurements your organization would need to put in place to ensure those employees can still meet their work demands.
• What are our hygiene strategies for handling all vehicles?
• Person Protective Equipment: What / how much is in stock? How much do you need (masks / gloves & other disinfectants such as wipes and sanitizer)?

For those employees who interact with the public, ask these key questions:

• Find and assess any hazardous conditions that an employee may be exposed to.
• Discuss the employees’ level of risk exposure.
• Find and implement procedures to limit the amount of human interaction your employees have with customers. For instance, eliminating handshakes, creating physical barriers, distancing / isolating employees, and repeated sanitation.
• Determine how to best communicate with your customers. For instance, over the phone, webinar, email, etc.

What if certain employees can’t work from home?

• Set aside additional time and resources to ensure the proper cleaning and sanitation of the workplace, especially high traffic areas.
• Display posted outlining proper hand hygiene, how to contain germs, and what to do if your aren’t feeling well / sick.
• Place additional sanitation products, like gloves and sanitizer in easily accessible areas.
• Remind employees to utilize sick time if they aren’t feeling well (check your states laws about paid family medical leave).