Keeping our customers and colleagues safe

Our teams are working safely and in-line with the latest national guidance and we’re working hard to help you as fast as we can. We know it’s a challenging time for everyone right now. Thank you in advance for showing kindness and consideration to our team as they do their very best to help you.

Below are some of the things we’re doing to keep you and our colleagues safe, and how you can help us.

Visiting your home

Guidance, based on our risk assessments, has been issued to all customer-facing colleagues explaining how to safely visit and work in your home and communal areas.

We will ask for your Covid status if you are booking an appointment with us. Apart from emergencies, we will not be able to visit your home if you have Covid-19, any symptoms or if you’re waiting for a test result. Additionally, if you are self-isolating or quarantining we will not be able to visit.

Following the confirmation of your appointment, we would ask that you follow some simple guidelines to make sure that we all remain safe:

• Please make sure that the area where we are working is well ventilated and there is plenty of fresh air
• If we are completing a repair please clear the area so we can easily get into the space
• Please let us know if you contract Covid-19 after this appointment has been made, or if you have symptoms, are self-isolating or quarantining
• Please give our teams space to work, maintain at least a 2 meter distance and move to another room if possible

Please be assured that our teams:

• Are following national Covid-19 guidelines
• Will be wearing personal protective equipment and will be working safely
• Are doing all they can to keep themselves and you safe

Watch our short video to show the basics that we need to do to keep both our colleagues and customers safe:

Protection

All of our teams are issued with personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure we meet all government guidelines and they will always wash their hands or sanitise thoroughly before approaching anyone’s home.

If we know a customer is isolating or displaying symptoms and there is an emergency repair to carry out, our team will wear additional PPE for everyone’s safety. This will include gloves, a disposable suit, goggles or face visor and a suitable face covering, which will be worn before approaching and knocking on the door.

We offer voluntary lateral flow tests for our front line colleagues who are in a customer-facing role and visiting customers’ homes. We think this is a really helpful way forward and provides some added assurance for our colleagues and customers until the vaccine is available for everyone.

For more information about lateral flow tests, visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understanding-lateral-flow-antigen-testing-for-people-without-symptoms

Test & Trace

We co-operate with any request for information from NHS Test & Trace.

If a person tests positive for the virus, all recent contacts will be reported and relevant people informed.

Our priority at all times is your health and safety and that of our colleagues.

Compliance

We can confirm we have complied with the government’s guidance on managing the risk of COVID-19 - see our FIVE STEPS TO SAFER WORKING TOGETHER document and our Covid-19 risk assessment.