It is devastating to hear that 11 staff in our network have been tested positive for COVID-19 within the first half of August, mainly being infected by their next-of-kin under one roof. As required under the SOPs, the stations whom these staff work at have to be closed for thorough sanitization. Depending on the number of the respective retailers and staff undergoing quarantine, the stations’ business has to be halted for 3 to 10 days due to lack of manpower.
First and foremost, I would like to wish all the infected staff and their family a speedy recovery. Secondly, I wish to reinforce the importance of vaccination for our frontliners. Besides strict compliance with the pandemic SOPs, we urge our Retail Partners to ensure that all staff have registered for vaccination, and pursue for urgent vaccination. In the service line particularly, we have the basic responsibility to provide a safe environment for our customers. At Pen Petroleum, we launched the Jom Daftar Vaksin campaign to encourage vaccination registration by retailers and staff. For those who have registered for vaccination, we reward them with a RM5 KFC voucher as a small token of appreciation. Everybody plays a part in achieving herd immunity. So, let us do our part.
Given the alarming situation, Retail Partners are also reminded to arrange your human resources wisely, for instance, to keep your staff under 2 or 3 separate shifts to minimize the risk of bulk infection which may totally incapacitate the station operation. With the intrusion of virus variants into our community, it is advisable to take extra precautionary steps such as testing staff temperature and blood oxygen level when they check in for work. You are further encouraged to keep sufficient MOH-approved self-test kits at station for staff use from time to time. For high risk staff (such as those pending vaccination, of senior age, those who has frequent physical contact with visiting supplier, vendor, truck drivers, etc.), we even encourage them to use the test kits on a weekly basis for monitoring purposes.
In so far as the pandemic is concerned, we are flooded with overloaded information. Rumour has it that, petrol station nozzle is one of the hottest spots for COVID-19 spread. I wish to remind all retailers to always refer to the official source of information i.e. the authorities, Chevron or Pen Petroleum when doubt arises. As petrol station owners, we ought to be able to educate our staff and the public on the correct safety guidelines.
Amidst the pandemic, let us all stay connected and motivate each other to strive in the All-Stars Incentive Program 2021 launched by Chevron. I would like to applaud Chevron for designing the program in a realistic mechanism which suits the pandemic uncertainty. In the last incentive program, we had 19 stations winning including sites located on the highway and in the rural area. I believe this would inspire more stations from Pen Petroleum to work hard to win the All-Stars title this year. Should you require our guide, do reach out to our RBCs and leadership team who are always available to help.
Lastly, I would like to thank our team for continue driving the business passionately despite the obvious decline in sales. The team has launched many simple yet creative programs this few months, in collaboration with Chevron and our Xpress Point vendors. It is our hope that at this trying times, our effort helps to uplift our fellow retailer’s morale.
Dato’ Saw Chang Heng
Executive Chairman
PenPec Group