As communities and businesses start to reopen, customers seek assurance that the places, products, and services they use are safe. Today Intertek Alchemy launched its Protek People Assurance certification program that confirms a company’s employees have been trained, assessed, and verified to meet stringent protocols for sanitation, hygiene, health, and more.

As the world adjusts to a “new normal,” many in-quarantine traits will become generally accepted standards as customers and employees fundamentally re-think their approach to everyday health, safety, and well-being. Recent Intertek research revealed the following:

• 76% of consumers were scared or nervous about visiting a restaurant once restrictions were lifted;
• 73% cited the same fear in visiting a hotel;
• The research found similar concerns around theaters (56%), airlines (57%), and public transport (59%);
• 71% of workers do not want to return to work unless authenticated health and safety practices are in place;
• 95% of respondents would find it reassuring if companies adopted “a universal quality standard” to prevent COVID-19 infection.

It Is clear that whether at work, shopping, or eating out, people will look to corporations and brands to provide assurance that their products, services, and places are safe. The number one tool any company has to achieve this standard is their workforce.

Protek "People Assurance" Certification

Protek People Assurance certification, developed by Intertek subsidiary Alchemy, is a comprehensive training and assessment program that verifies a company’s workforce is capable of meeting stringent protocols for sanitation, hygiene, risk mitigation, and more. The targeted eLearning program teaches, tests, and verifies employee proficiency on critical topics, such as Cleaning & Sanitation, Face Masks, Personal Hygiene, Vehicles of Disease Transmission. The training content utilizes Intertek Alchemy’s proven model of adult learning to ensure worker engagement and comprehension, including interactive elements, micro-learning bursts, and gamification. It is further enhanced with continuous learning tools employers can place throughout the workplace to reinforce the key concepts learned in the training.

Companies can use their current learning management system (LMS) to provide the Protek People Assurance eLearning to their employees. Or they can access the program through Intertek Wisetail LMS, an easy-to-use eLearning platform to deliver the training via desktop, tablet, or mobile devices.

The People Assurance program is one component of the end-to-end Intertek Protek certification program, which gives customers assurance that a business is safe to visit through a series of thorough tests and inspections covering five key components of the business: People, Systems & Processes, Facilities, Materials & Surfaces, and Products. Intertek is uniquely positioned to deliver this end-to-end certification due to its unrivaled expertise in Total Quality Assurance, with more than 1,000 labs and 46,000 experts in over 100 countries already testing, auditing, and certifying global supply chain safety. Intertek Protek is a hyper-local solution with a firmly established global support system. The Protek People Alchemy component was developed by Intertek Alchemy, the world’s leading expert on frontline worker training.

“It’s clear that health, safety, hygiene and wellbeing—from workplaces to the public places where people socialize and the public transport used to get there—is now the greatest concern for the entire world,” said André Lacroix, CEO of Intertek. “Protek builds on our existing Total Quality Assurance solutions to create an extensive, end-to-end program offering a systemic range of solutions for this new environment.”

Lacroix continued: “As a purpose-led company, Intertek’s mission is to make the world a better and safer place. Never has this core purpose been more relevant than now. The is the moment where our mission critical role in society truly comes to life, across all sectors and all business lines as we bring solutions the world needs now, everywhere, every day.”