For 30 years, Sword Services has worked closely with all its Clients and Suppliers to deliver an outstanding service and we shall continue to do so during these unprecedented times.
Throughout this challenging period we have taken our own proactive measures and adhered to Government Agency advice to ensure we are doing everything we can to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.
Yesterday we held an extended Operations Briefing to discuss and agree our next course of action and late last night we made some minor amends to that plan in response to the Prime Ministers Briefing.
The following changes have been introduced with immediate effect:
- All Staff are now working remotely with a core engineering team dispatched to Client site as required
- Our office number +44 (0)1753 542020 is manned remotely and calls to this number are being answered. In addition, all staff can be contacted via their respective mobile numbers and email
- In order to minimise contact between staff as well as support the Government directive, we have drawn up a rota for individuals to visit our offices and carry out any necessary activities such as deliveries, stock taking, cleaning, vehicle maintenance and general business administration
- We will continue to host our Start of Day and End of Day Operations Meetings however, these will now be carried out via Video conferencing
- Our Finance Manager has contacted all suppliers to discuss stock availability and confirm any special supply chain measures we need to be aware of. At this present time there are no known issues. We will continue to monitor this situation
- We have repositioned our fleet of vehicles to ensure our Engineering Team can respond to Client requests in the normal manner
Sword Services continues to proactively manage this situation and will update Clients, Suppliers and Employees following any changes to our strategy.
Yours sincerely,
Lawrence Sword,
Managing Director
PREVIOUS STATEMENTS
Statement on 16th March 2020
General
- As part of our standard operating practices we host a Start of Day Ops Meeting at which all departments are represented. We have now included a Daily Update – COVID19 agenda item to review all relevant Government briefings and instruct our staff accordingly
- We have postponed our Client Technology Day which was scheduled for June and set a revised date of 16th September 2020 (provisional). At this event we host over 150 people at our Head Office so it was deemed a high risk and something that could be moved to later in the year
- We are now performing COVID19 Risk Assessments for all work requests be it for existing or new Clients to ensure our Engineers are not entering high risk environments without the appropriate protection or consideration for impact to the business. We are doing this to ensure that we maintain as close to a full complement of Engineers as possible so we can service all priority work requests during this period
- We have received a number of enquiries from our Clients and Partners seeking to clarify our position during this period. We have responded to all requests and there are no compliance issues
Offices Premises
- We are installing a portable hand washing station in our reception area this week and upgrading our building access policy making it mandatory for anyone (visitor or staff) wishing to enter the premises to wash their hands and use the sanitiser provided
Technology
- We have taken delivery of additional laptops as a backup to our current IT inventory. These devices are provisioned for immediate use and will be deployed in the event of any device failures
Employees
- We have introduced educational training sessions for all staff on the best methods to take good care of their health including healthy eating and vitamin supplements designed to lessen the effect of the virus and promote speedy recovery
- We have advised all staff to avoid international travel as well as mass gatherings and other high risk areas such as the Underground
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Statement on 9th March 2020
Office Premises
- Cleaning schedule has been increased to Daily in all areas
- Hand sanitiser is provided in our Reception Area for all Staff and Visitors to use on arrival. Reception Staff are requesting all Visitors to use this
- Hand sanitiser has been provided in all washrooms in addition to the normal antibacterial soap
- NHS Hand Washing Guideline posters displayed in all washroom, kitchen and restroom areas
- Door handles throughout the building are wiped with santister at start of the business day
Vehicle Management
- All vehicles sanitised twice daily (Steering Wheel/Gear Shift/Door Handles)
- Hand sanitiser is carried onboard all vehicles including instructions for use
Technology
- Core infrastructure systems and Cloud solutions tested for remote access
- All mobile devices (Laptops / Phones) tested for remote access
- All technology working should WFH policy be invoked
Employees
- All Employees briefed by HR Manager on Employment Guidelines
- All Line Managers briefed and provided with HR Factsheet on processes to follow and directives to adhere to
- All Employees provided with ‘Toolbox’ talk on NHS / Government guidelines for keeping hands clean and how to minimise the risk of infection