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The importance of having a Continuity Plan for your business.

Over the past few weeks we have heard the news of localised lockdowns in many parts of the UK such as Bradford and Preston plus a few more planned. We have had leisure and beauty openings to be postponed and the speculation of the M25 travel restriction. It is very difficult to predict what will happen next and this proves hard for businesses to survive. Individually, businesses are having to adapt office space, work processes, add additional PPE and various cleaning stations and documentation.

The Government have already stated another national lockdown would cause economic devastation which would take years to recover from, their threat of a series of local lockdowns and travel ban could cause issues for a lot of companies, therefore the COVID measures need to be managed correctly.

What can you do?

1) Adhere to all safety advice – It is common sense to continue with regular hand washing, sanitising surfaces and wearing a face covering when instructed to do so. By not carrying out these simple will not only increase the risk of spreading the virus in your area which could contribute to a local lockdown. It is important that all staff are reminded on a regular basis what their role is to keep themselves and their employees safe.

2) Carry out a risk assessment – These are some of the things you can do:

  1. Use floor tape or paint to mark work areas.
  2. Provide signage to remind people to keep a 2 m distance – great ones on NHS website.
  3. Use screens to create a physical barrier between people.
  4. Have people working side-by-side rather than face-to-face.
  5. Limit movement of people.
  6. Work home if you can safely.
  7. Rotating between jobs and equipment.
  8. Eliminate and limit using lifts and work vehicles.
  9. In high-traffic areas like corridors, toilets and kitchen areas.
  10. Allow only essential working trips.

3) Create a contingency plan – this is an essential document policy for your business to ensure you cover all the eventualities and have a back up plan in case of any emergency. This can include back up servers for IT systems, list of emergency contractors should you need them to having alternative office spaces. This is a simple document and its very specific to you and your business.

Please contact me on joanne@chestnutassociates.co.uk for any further information

Jo Health and Safety Consultant