TWELVE months ago when we blogged ‘Staying Safe as we Stop the Pandemic’ to mark World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2020, little did we think that the precautionary steps we were tentatively taking then would become reinforced and routine ways of working in 2021.
While the Coronavirus Pandemic was in its relative infancy at this point a year ago, we have now lived with it and the need to keep each and every one of our colleagues safe through three lockdowns and the periods of lighter restrictions in between.
The theme for this year’s United Nation’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work is ‘Anticipate, Prepare and Respond to Crises’. Its focus is on strategies to strengthen national occupational safety and health systems to build resilience in order to face crises now and in the future, drawing on lessons learned and experiences from the world of work.
Of course, it goes without saying that the best time to plan and prepare for a crisis is not whilst in the middle of one, but Covid-19 left us with little choice. Faced with an evolving situation, workplaces worldwide have had to adapt ways of working and put in place stringent controls to enable employees to work safely and as free as possible from contracting the virus.
As contract manufacturers and packers for many sectors either key to combatting Coronavirus, such as industrial cleaning, or, in the case of farming and agrochemicals, essential to ensuring there is food in shops and on tables, Grotech Production Ltd has been determined and proud to remain operational throughout the Pandemic.
This has involved a great deal of both strategic thinking and flexibility at all levels of our business to introduce safeguarding measures ranging from the fundamental – frequent hand sanitisation stations, social distancing and drop off points outside the factory gates for post and courier deliveries – to the more far reaching such as home working for many and new procedures for lorry drivers for collections and deliveries with health questionnaires and temperature checks.
As the Pandemic rolled on and we realised there was no ‘quick fix’, radical new ways of working were implemented including:
- new shift patterns based around bubbles with designated separate cleaners and toilet facilities;
- online technology enabling us to communicate effectively between bubbles and with customers;
- no-contact drop off points for our production and lab staff to exchange quality control samples;
- screening to prevent contact while our material handlers and office team liaise on deliveries and despatches.
While COVID 19 has brought its challenges, we have taken them on the chin, not only carrying on in the face of adversity but growing our business particularly in the agri-chem and industrial cleaning sectors.
We have learned to adapt, pull together and think on our feet. However, what we are most proud of is how our people are responding and playing their part in keeping us all safe which surely has to be at the heart of any successful occupational safety and health plan whether there’s a crisis or not?
