Summary: See how Longo’s used Certainty Software to strengthen its Pandemic Health and Safety Response across 36 stores during COVID-19. This case study shows how centralized inspections, faster corrective actions, and better reporting helped the grocer protect workers, maintain consistency, and respond quickly during a critical period.
A Pandemic Health and Safety Response requires fast inspection updates, centralized corrective actions, and clear visibility across every store location.
Longo’s was among the retailers that responded to the pandemic with speed, consistency, and measurable results. With support from Certainty Software’s audit and inspection platform, they transformed how they collected, reported, and acted on health and safety compliance data across their 36-store network. As a result, their Pandemic Health and Safety Response story is a compelling demonstration of what a modern, technology-enabled safety inspection program can accomplish when it counts most.
Founded by three brothers — Tommy, Joe, and Gus — Longo’s opened its first fruit market in 1956. What began as a single family-run store has since grown significantly. In fact, today the company operates 36 stores across Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. Additionally, they run Grocery Gateway, the region’s leader in online home-delivered grocery sales.
Throughout its growth, Longo’s has maintained the same family-based values that defined its founding. Specifically, they place what they call “Family Standards” at the heart of every business decision.
Today, Longo’s commitment to quality, community, and guest experience is backed by its Longo’s Family Charitable Foundation. The foundation invests in the communities where their stores operate. Ultimately, that same commitment to doing things right — for guests, team members, and the broader community — is what made their COVID-19 Pandemic Health and Safety Response so effective.
In January 2021, Longo’s earned recognition as the number one Grocery Retailer in the 2020 Ontario Leger WOW study. The independent study assessed grocery retailers across multiple dimensions of customer experience. Notably, Longo’s earned top rankings for store ambiance, product quality, check-out efficiency, curb appeal, customer importance, and staff courtesy. Certainly, this was a remarkable achievement in any year, let alone one defined by a global pandemic.
Most importantly, one of the dimensions where Longo’s stood out was their approach to health and safety during the pandemic. More than two-thirds of Longo’s customers reported feeling comfortable enough to shop freely in their stores. They did so without fear of touching items. This was a clear signal that Longo’s infection control and safety protocols were visible, credible, and consistently executed across every location.
“We know everyone is feeling the pressures of the pandemic, and Longo’s wants to ensure we provide an experience that feels both welcoming and safe for our Team Members and Guests,” said Anthony Longo, President and CEO. “We make every effort to ensure each visit to our stores for essential needs can be as pleasant as possible during these times and always.”
As a Certainty client, we are proud to have played a role in supporting Longo’s during this critical period. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Longo’s recognized a key challenge. Their existing approach to collecting and reporting health and safety compliance data across their store network needed to scale rapidly. Therefore, they chose Certainty to help standardize and accelerate their Pandemic Health and Safety Response inspections and reporting across all locations.
Initially, Longo’s deployed Certainty for health and safety audits and daily store inspections. However, the platform’s flexibility quickly made it valuable across a much broader range of business operations. According to Daniel Girardi, Continuous Improvement Analyst at Longo’s, “Certainty is now used for various areas of our business for internal control documents, inspections and benchmarks.”
“The benefit of us using Certainty is the simplicity of the software from an end-user perspective. We also love the ability to take and add pictures. These are useful in documenting infractions during our audits. Furthermore, Certainty has great reporting features generated in real-time, allowing the accuracy of completion. This allows us to analyze the data from the checklists completed to see trends and areas that require more focus,” said Kate Reid, Manager, Safety & Security at Longo’s.
Marija Velletri, Safety & Security Specialist at Longo’s, added: “Certainty supports us with accountability on closing out any areas for improvement throughout all locations. It does so through corrective action functions. In addition, the ability of notifications is extremely useful. They immediately alert senior management in high-risk situations to quickly resolve any concerns.”
Today, Certainty is embedded across Longo’s business operations. Specifically, it supports a wide range of audit, inspection, business performance reporting, and corrective action management activities including:
- Continuous Improvement Benchmarks
- Health & Safety Store Inspections
- Store Safety Checkups
- Kitchen Inspections
- Food Safety Inspections
- Daily Health Screening checks
- Grocery Gateway Inspections
- Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Audits
- Safety and Security Audits
- Sweep Logs
- Temperature Logs
- Pre-operational Inspections
- COVID Pandemic Cleaning Logs
Longo’s experience illustrates what becomes possible when a multi-site retail organization replaces decentralized, paper-based safety tracking with a centralized digital platform. Inspections are completed consistently and on time. Moreover, compliance data is visible to management in real time. Corrective actions are assigned and tracked automatically. As a result, the organization can demonstrate a comprehensive, auditable record of Pandemic Health and Safety Response performance across every location.
For EHS and food safety teams managing compliance at scale, this kind of operational visibility is not just a competitive advantage. In fact, it is a regulatory necessity in an environment where health and safety expectations continue to rise.
At Certainty, we are proud to be part of Longo’s story. We look forward to continuing to support their commitment to being one of the most trusted and customer-centered grocery retailers in Canada. Congratulations to the entire team at Longo’s.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Pandemic Health and Safety Response Inspections for Grocery Retailers
Grocery retailers typically need to conduct a broad range of health and safety inspections. Specifically, these inspections help meet regulatory obligations and protect both employees and customers. For example, they include daily store safety walkthroughs, food safety and temperature monitoring inspections, and kitchen and food preparation area audits. Additionally, retailers must perform Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) compliance audits, slip/trip/fall hazard assessments, and fire safety inspections. PPE compliance checks for team members, emergency equipment inspections, and COVID-19 or infectious disease control audits are also required where applicable.
In Canada, provincial occupational health and safety legislation requires employers to conduct regular workplace inspections. Employers must also maintain documented records. Consequently, these requirements are most efficiently met with a digital inspection management platform.
How does a digital audit platform improve health and safety compliance in retail?
Digital audit and inspection platforms like Certainty give retail health and safety teams powerful tools. They can standardize inspection checklists across every location and complete inspections on mobile devices in the field. Moreover, teams can capture photographic evidence of compliance issues. The platform also automatically assigns and tracks corrective actions to responsible store managers. In addition, it generates real-time dashboards that show compliance performance across the entire store network.
Consequently, this eliminates the data silos, version control problems, and delayed reporting that characterize paper-based inspection programs. As a result, leadership gains the visibility they need to identify systemic issues, allocate resources effectively, and demonstrate compliance readiness to regulators and auditors.
How can corrective action tracking improve safety outcomes across multiple store locations?
Corrective action tracking closes the loop between identifying a safety or compliance issue and resolving it. This is where many paper-based programs fail. Digital platforms like Certainty automatically route corrective actions to the appropriate responsible party when an inspection finding is recorded. They also set deadline alerts, escalate overdue items to supervisors, and provide a complete audit trail of every action taken.
For multi-site retailers, this means that a safety issue identified at one store cannot simply be forgotten or deprioritized. Instead, it is tracked, visible to management, and documented as either resolved or outstanding. Over time, this systematic approach to corrective action management reduces repeat findings. It also improves inspection completion rates. Ultimately, it builds the compliance culture that sustains strong safety performance across all locations.
