As you know, we are all facing a serious situation caused by the fast spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) so we have prepared this statement to keep our clients and other stakeholders informed about our plans and preparations for our business continuity.

In general, advice about the virus and health precautions can be found at:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

and advice for employers has been issued by ACAS and can be found at:

https://www.acas.org.uk/coronavirus 

As a company our primary aim is to keep our workforce safe whilst continuing to maintain the high levels of security our customers have come to enjoy and expect.

To minimise the effect of the virus on our business, staff and customers, we are taking steps to prevent its spread and also planning for the possible disruption to our service provision as the situation develops. To help with this we have already implemented certain procedures and changes and we have a series of additional precautionary plans in place which can be implemented as and when required. Naturally we will continue to work on additional measures to ensure continuity of business throughout this period.

Currently our measures, already implemented, have been to:

Keep our staff informed

A statement has been issued to all staff providing them with advice on the virus, its symptoms and immediate precautionary steps that they need to take. They have been given the current NHS guidance to help prevent the spread of the virus.

We are monitoring the government and NHS guidance on a daily basis and will send regular updates to our officers and admin staff so that they always have the latest data.

Equip our staff

We have made sure that hand sanitiser is available for all of our sites and all of our mobile patrol drivers.

Our mobile patrol team already carry gloves and masks as standard because of the condition of some buildings which they enter. These can be made more widely available if it is deemed necessary but currently there is no evidence or advice which suggests this is a beneficial step at present.

Minimise Staff Movements

The nature of our business means that many of our staff are trained at multiple sites and their regular role involves working at more than one location. Our mobile patrol drivers visit multiple sites as a standard part of their role and we also have a supervisory and management team who visit all of our frontline team on at least a monthly basis.

Rostering will be used to endeavour to keep staff working on a maximum of two different sites.

Most of our patrol drivers work visits are to empty and closed premises so they will be restricted to these and only come into contact with other persons when absolutely necessary. They have been instructed to frequently wash their hands or use hand sanitiser as they start and finish each site patrol.

Non-essential site visits by our management and supervisory team have been temporarily stopped. Site welfare visits will be carried out by telephone. Only when absolutely necessary will a site visit be made such as to replace necessary welfare equipment. This measure will help to reduce the possibility of spreading the virus.

Staff appraisals will be conducted over the telephone though, staff will be given the opportunity to postpone their appraisals until face-to-face visits are viable again.

Contingency Planning & Business Continuity

A fundamental and integral part of our business strategy is our comprehensive Business Continuity Plan and Contingency planning which includes absence management and disaster recovery planning and is available to view on request.

Supernumerary Capacity

We have several officers who are trained on all sites and if required can step in at short notice to cover absence due to such as illness.

We also have additional part-time relief capacity. This is made up of officers who currently work on a part-time basis but are available to provide additional cover as and when required, potentially even moving into temporary full-time roles if necessary.

Mobile Patrol Extra Availability

We have several patrols on the road which have the capacity to add extra patrols as and when required. This gives us much more flexibility to allocate essential services around the business and to provide emergency patrol services to static clients should the need arise.

Administrative Continuity

All our core administrative services are already cloud based and are tested regularly for remote working as part of our standard Business Continuity Plan. These include essential systems such as rostering, workflow management & assignment instructions. Should our admin team need to revert to home working or self-isolation then all of their core duties can be conducted remotely.

Communication

Communication within our business is critical, especially for our alarm response clients so that their ARC can contact us at any time to report an alarm activation. Our telephone systems are automatically set-up to divert to the duty manager or control room in the event that our head office is unable to open.

Our control room has undertaken disaster recovering modelling to ensure that we remain operational in the event of self-isolation requirements.

 

 

Emergency Procedures

(Self-Isolation & Positive Testing)

Self-Isolation – Staff Notification

As part of our statement to all of our staff, in line with the NHS guidance, we have advised them to use the NHS 111 service before returning to work if:

• they think they might have coronavirus (displaying symptoms)
• in the last 14 days they have been to a country or area with a high risk of coronavirus.

Visit this site for details of the current high-risk areas:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/advice-for-travellers/

they have been in close contact with someone with coronavirus

As a result of contacting NHS 111 or their GP, if they are asked to self-isolate then they have been provided with guidance on this practice. In this case, we will naturally keep our clients informed on any of the sites where the staff member has worked within the last 14 days.

Positive Confirmation – Staff Notification

It goes without saying that in the event that any of our staff test positive for Coronavirus COVID-19, then we will immediately notify any affected clients. We will follow all procedures and advice provided by the NHS and Government in such a circumstance. Our roster system and vehicle tracking systems mean that we can easily identify all sites visited by any staff member in a given period of time so that all necessary information and precautions can be taken.

Self-Isolation – Client Notification

We are asking our clients to keep us informed if any of their staff are required to self-isolate and have worked at a location where we provide security services. Under these circumstances, we will inform our staff who work at the specified location and will follow our client’s advice regarding working procedures and continuity of service delivery.

We appreciate that in many cases of self-isolation the individual may be taking precautionary measures so there is no need for immediate isolation of other workers at the location.

Positive Confirmation – Client Notification

Naturally, we would expect our clients to keep us informed if any of their staff test positive, having worked at a location where we provide security services.

Under these circumstances we will work with the client to agree an action plan to ensure the security of their building and follow advice regarding the notification of staff who have worked at the location.

We would ask our clients to keep us informed about the advice they have been given by health officials in relation to a positive confirmation.

Communication

The most important factor is for us to remain in communication with our staff and with our clients so that everyone is kept up to date and informed but without causing undue panic. We will continue to follow all government guidelines and will work closely with our clients to provide a service that maintains the safety of their building, their staff and also our own employees.

There are many options available to ensure building security is maintained and each solution will be unique to the client’s own building and situation.

Being a local provider means that we have the ability to maintain closer regular communication with our clients and keep a flexible approach to service delivery at all times.