3 Key Lessons as we Unlock our Economy during COVID-19

When I first started at Bureau Veritas and wrote about making the world a safer place, I never imagined that going to the grocery store would soon become such a thoughtful process that requires so much attention and care. The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly turned the world upside-down and made the familiar seem frightening. Now, after three months of economic paralysis and community lock-downs, America is beginning to open back up, cautiously optimistic that we have learned to live alongside the novel coronavirus. Businesses are eager to restart, residents are excited to venture back out into their communities, and families and businesspeople are wondering when they can resume travel beyond walking the dog around the block.

The big question, of course, is how can we restart the “non-essential” parts of our society as safely as possible? 

That’s the conversation we’ve been having with many of our Bureau Veritas clients over the past several weeks. I’m proud that leading companies are turning to us as a global authority on safety, and humbled that they entrust us with the well-being of their employees and customers. It’s a big responsibility, but Bureau Veritas is more than ready for the challenge. For almost 200 years, our mission has been to make the world a safer place through science-based testing and inspection, and we’re bringing all of our expertise to bear in these historic times.

Here are three key lessons we’ve learned while preparing our clients to reopen safely and successfully.

Science-based standards, protocols, and testing are non-negotiable.

Accepting this fact is the cornerstone of restarting the economy, because it’s the key to restoring employee and consumer confidence. At Bureau Veritas, we know that the average consumer often takes scientific testing for granted or doesn’t realize that it’s happening behind the scenes with the products and services we use every day.

We simply expect that everything from our morning cup of coffee, to the elevators we step into, to the toys we buy for our children are safe—regardless of what city, state, or province we’re living in.

In reality, Bureau Veritas has applied carefully vetted scientific processes to test thousands of the products and services that people use daily across North America. Now, as we ask people to re-enter a world with a highly contagious virus, we need to bring this objective, science-based approach out from behind the scenes to instill consumer confidence. The United States does not yet have a unified, consistent approach to deploying COVID-19 hygiene and safety standards. Businesses including restaurants, retail stores, office spaces, hotels, manufacturing plants, etc. are free to interpret and follow CDC recommendations without a clear plan for inspections or oversight. As a result, consumers can’t be certain what protocols are being followed as buildings and businesses reopen amidst the pandemic. 

It’s clear that this novel coronavirus demands a novel approach to safety.

Even with nearly 200 years of experience in testing, inspection, and certification, we at Bureau Veritas found ourselves in a position where information was not only medically complex, but evolving daily. That’s why we’re bringing the best minds together to define the best solution, and have appointed Cleveland Clinic as the Medical Advisor for our "Restart your Business with BV" suite of testing and inspection solutions.

This unique arrangement enables us to leverage the strategic insight, advice, and recommendations of the world’s leading medical community to review safety protocols, guidelines, and standards. The result? Businesses have well-defined science-backed health, safety, and hygiene guidelines to adhere to when reopening, and consumers can trust that the spaces they’re entering pose minimal risk. 

Employee safety will look different than anything we’ve seen before.

Millions of “essential workers” have remained on the job during lockdown, and their tenure hasn’t been without turmoil. We live in a hyper-connected, hyper-vigilant world right now, so when COVID-19 safety protocols aren’t in place or aren’t followed, it makes headlines on social media and across our 24/7 news cycle. Now, after spending several months huddled in their homes, non-essential workers are being asked to venture out of their safe zones and back into the workplace. It’s a “new normal” on multiple levels. Their workspaces will look different; their shifts might change; they’ll be asked to follow new protocols. But the biggest change is that the potential danger they face is invisible and largely out of their control.

Unlike OSHA and ISO standards that focus on minimizing risk from the physical environment, the contagious nature of COVID-19 means that the risk comes from the work community itself.

A worker’s health and safety depends on the behaviors of those around them—and those actions have implications for their families and communities. The weight of this responsibility cannot be overstated. At Bureau Veritas, we believe that no one should ever have to choose between their life and their livelihood. The clients we’re working with feel the same way, and are doing everything possible to adapt to this unprecedented challenge. In the current scenario, that means adopting and following medically sound, up-to-date, science-based standards and protocols for preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the work community—and doing so without any exceptions allowed. That’s the only way to build employee confidence, and that confidence is critical to ensuring businesses have the workforce they need to ramp back up, and that the workforce is instilling confidence in their customers.

Whether it’s a waiter in a restaurant, concierge at a hotel desk, or a teacher in a classroom, employees need to feel safe and secure before they can focus on meeting the needs of customers.

Consumer trust will become a competitive differentiator.  

The success of re-opening, of course, ultimately depends on consumers’ willingness to resume buying a business’ products and services. Building trust in our communities through traceability and transparency will be absolutely essential as we enter the next phases of reopening. I’m excited about how “Restart your Business with BV" is playing an innovative role in establishing that trust.

We’re leveraging a digital platform that lets companies and local authorities centrally manage their health protocols and demonstrate a real commitment to public transparency. Our solution includes dashboards, apps, and tools that provide all the information companies and governments need to ensure compliance, while also giving the public an opportunity to see which businesses meet our strict health, safety, and hygiene requirements.

In tangible terms, that means I can go to a website to see if my favorite restaurant, shopping mall, hotel, museum, etc. has met the standards for a safe reopening.

For example, some of our most innovative clients in the hospitality industry––like Sands Las Vegas, Preferred Hotels and Resorts, Meliá Hotels International, and Accor––are taking these important steps to ensure their employees and travelers can return with confidence. Many consumers will demand this level of reassurance and third-party validation before re-committing to entering a business or buying from a brand. The companies that go above and beyond to earn consumer trust will not only gain a competitive advantage during the crisis, but also come out on the other side with a stronger brand in these socially conscious times.

As Bureau Veritas tackles the COVID-19 crisis with innovative, science-backed solutions, we are proud to be recognized as the global authority capable of building this confidence with employees, consumers, and communities across North America.

Like everyone else, I look forward to resuming the simple joys of life: seeing my BV colleagues in person; dining at local restaurants; vacationing with my family; dropping my daughter off at school; browsing in my favorite bookstore. Those experiences will look different in a COVID-19 world. And I’m proud that Bureau Veritas can help businesses restart safely, and in doing so, ensure a safer world for all.

Learn more about "Restart your Business with BV," and how we are working with our customers to unlock our economy during COVID-19: