Covid-19

Written during the COVID-19 pandemic; the measures described here applied at the time and are no longer in place.

COVID-19 measures to battle the third wave

As we continue to battle COVID-19, we find ourselves facing a new challenge due to the third wave that has gripped our nation again.

We at Teabox, since the first wave of COVID-19, have implemented stringent safety measures to mitigate contamination and assure the safety and health of employees and partners.

We care for the safety and health of all our staff, delivery partners and customers.

As the third wave begins to rise, we at Teabox are committed to the health and safety of all those we work with and our customers.

“Ever more cautious of the COVID-19 third wave and the new variant, we have reinforced to secure all our facilities and sanitized them before any of our staff are allowed to enter. Adhering to all the safety measures prescribed by international bodies and the Ministry of Health, the safety and health of our employees and partners are our priority right now,” said Kausshal Dugarr, Founder and CEO, Teabox.

Working in tandem with the state health authorities and complying with the WHO recommendations on hygiene and safety, we have restructured and charted a work plan again, and identified and assigned only certain limited areas of our facility to service our fulfillments. These are all preventive health measures that we can take to the best, highest standards we can.

Ensuring safety at our fulfillment facilities

In these uncertain times and the rapidly changing nature of our reality, we have been able to do our best to constantly transform our facilities to meet the high standards of quality, safety and hygiene. We have beefed up our Quality Management Systems and Policies and have contingency plans in place to ensure monitoring of employee health, the social distancing of employees on the shop floor, an adequate supply of personal protective equipment, and hand sanitizing stations.

We have a robust Food Safety Management System (FSMS) plan that covers, but is not limited to, best manufacturing practices, cleaning and sanitation, employee hygiene, measures to prevent contamination, traceability and recall. These are some of the prerequisites for globally acclaimed certifications like ISO 22000 and BRC, and we abide by these standards.

Facility sanitization

We have detailed contingency measures in place to mitigate any potential impact from the pandemic. Starting with the entry of people into our premises, we have ensured that there is no crowding of the entrance at any time.

• Every person entering the premises shall declare his/her personal health status truthfully by filling in an entry form.
• The body temperature of every person entering the premises shall be monitored using a contactless thermometer.
• Employee attendance is tracked manually by security personnel with no usage of biometric finger punch.
• Well-maintained sanitizing kiosks are placed across the facility, and personal protective kits are provided to all employees who are allowed to come to work.
• Body temperatures are checked regularly to ensure employees’ health condition is at its best.

Managing operations

At present, only 10% of our manpower is being utilized to ensure the safety of all and to be able to carry on operations.

There is alternate-day working for facility staff to reduce the density, maintain social distancing and protect employee health and welfare.

We have also reduced unit operations, which means that in place of ten people handling a product through a process, we are using two or three handling points instead. This is to ensure that a product goes through minimum contact in a process.

Handling incoming material and delivery

All incoming material is stored in a designated sanitized area, and samples for QC inspection are collected after a mandatory cooling period (conditioning time) of 24 hours.

Employees handling the incoming material are trained and will mandatorily wear adequate PPE.

Our delivery partners, on the other hand, have formed a Coronavirus Task Force to continuously adapt and mitigate all potential impacts.

They will be delivered to select locations based on the directives of the local authorities.

We have actively trained all our employees to stick to the norms of social distancing and ultimate hygiene. They shall use masks at all times while commuting and when at work. With marked areas of function at work, they shall maintain that, and we are monitoring everyone’s activities through our supervisors.

We have also issued guidelines that no employee shall attend work if his/her close contacts have shown symptoms of COVID-19, or if the person has any chronic illness, is pregnant, or is older than 60 years. Also, an employee will not come to work if his/her body temperature is above 37.30°C, and should promptly report it to health officials.

We urge you to stay home as we battle the COVID-19 pandemic. We are in this together.

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Originally published on Still Steeping, the Teabox blog, on April 21, 2020. Lightly edited for clarity in October 2026.