Mall management in the winter of Covid

Key takeaways:

• Workplace Safety: Atterbury implemented government regulations for workforce management, with a third of employees working in-office and others working from home.
• Mall Safety Protocols: Atterbury managed 12 retail centers during lockdown, ensuring safety with cleaning, social distancing, and sanitizing measures.
• Vulnerable Staff Protection: Service providers and tenants followed strict protocols for staff protection, including temperature checks and daily sign-ins.
• Tailored Approaches: Higher-density malls, like Pan Africa Shopping Centre, had stricter protocols for social distancing and queue management.
• Effective Measures: Safety protocols have been effective, with protocols in place for handling staff who test positive for Covid-19.

As the economy is reopening, taking the necessary precautions for safe workplaces and safe public spaces becomes even more important. Adelene van der Westhuizen gives some insight into how Atterbury approaches the challenge at all its property assets.

What percentage of Atterbury’s own workforce is coming into the office, and what precautions have you put in place at Atterbury’s own offices?

Atterbury started out with the one third request as per government regulations. Fortunately, the bulk of the Atterbury workforce have families at home and with the schools being closed, the structure fell in place all by itself to only have a third of the employees at the office at any given time.

It is one thing to secure an office, quite another to make a mall a safe space for both shoppers and workers. How many malls are in the Atterbury portfolio now, and did you have to close any of them, or could you remain open with a Covid-19 protocol?

Our Southern African portfolio consists of 12 retail centres under management with two more due to open within the next few months. All malls remained open during the lockdown with protocols changing as the levels of the lockdown occurred.

And what exactly does that protocol entail? How do you make your malls safe for shoppers? 

Initially, when only essential services were allowed to operate, the protocol included lifting of the paid parking booms to allow people to move freely without congestion and no need to touch unnecessary buttons. We also changed cleaning staff schedules to ensure that lifts, escalators and bathrooms are cleaned more frequently, and weekly deep cleaning of bathrooms was also added to the cleaning routines. Dedicated cleaners were allocated to bathrooms to ensure cleanliness of the higher traffic areas. We communicated messaging to increase public awareness of personal hygiene throughout all malls, on social media platforms and all possible advertising mediums. We limited the access to those areas of malls where no trade was allowed, so that we could allocate staff more effectively in higher-traffic areas. We also closed off all public seating, play areas, and the like to the public, to ensure limited dwell time and to enforce social distancing. Our tenants helped greatly in ensuring that queues were managed safely and effectively. Sanitising stations were also installed at all entrances to malls, including the access to the lifts and escalators; and we made the wearing of masks compulsory for entry to all of our malls.

One of the regulations has been that all workplaces must identify and provide protection for vulnerable staff. How has that been rolled out at malls?

All service providers at all our sites were requested to implement their own Covid-19 protocols for their staff as per government regulations; and those protocols had to be communicated with our property management staff. Our property-management teams, employed by AttX, then had to ensure that service providers adhered to their own protocols. For example, all service providers had to measure their temperature each morning and sign in as per the requirements. This is still in place now. Tenants have also had to ensure that their own protocols are in place to safeguard their own employees.

The volume of hand sanitiser you obtain must be staggering! Is it possible for you to share some figures?

I don’t have exact figures, but we bought 92 customised sanitising stations to be installed across our South African portfolio. Each of these stations holds 10L of sanitiser, so yes, we go through a lot of sanitiser!

Do you have different measures for different malls? Has there been one venue that has presented a specific challenge that was unique to that area?

All measures implemented were standard throughout the portfolio, but of course different malls with different densities require adjustment to the standard protocols. Our higher-density malls, for example Pan Africa Shopping Centre in Alexandra, which has much higher foot-traffic volumes, had to be managed with the focus on more stringent social-distancing measures. Our security staff assisted in managing the number of the people who were allowed into the mall on days when Sassa grants were paid out. Seating was provided for the queues the closer you got to the front of the line and queues were properly managed outside the mall in the parking areas. Wearing of masks is also enforced.

And how effective have the measures been so far? What would be the protocol if a staff member tests positive?

Thus far, the measures have proven to be effective, and we rely on tenants and service providers to enforce their own protocols. It is always a team effort at our centres, with so many different companies collaborating to ensure the success of the mall. If an employee of any service provider shows any symptoms, the necessary protocols need to be followed; property management has to be informed, contact tracing has to be done so that anyone who had possible contact with that person can monitor symptoms and isolate if needed. An immediate deep clean of the area where the employee worked is also mandatory.

What has the relaxation of regulations in Level 3 meant in terms of what to expect at Atterbury’s malls?

During Level 3 we have higher foot traffic, as most tenants can now trade. The cleaning staff returned to their normal cleaning schedules, but we still have dedicated staff in bathrooms who also do a weekly deep clean. Lift buttons, escalators and higher-traffic areas still get extra focus with increased cleaning routines in place. We also expect tenants to assist by enforcing social distancing and sanitising when entering the shops. With tenants only allowing a certain number of shoppers inside their shops, more management and focus in the common areas is needed to ensure social distancing in the malls. For now, the public seating and play areas still remain closed. The safety of our customers and staff remains paramount to us.