Response to the COVID 19 crisis
Approach and Policy
Surgo is a family business and as such we always make people and their safety our first priority.
Our response to the Covid-19 outbreak was to approach the situation from a safety-first perspective before considering the other issues.
By mid-March, we had established a Covid-19 team, led from the top by our Managing Director together with other main board Directors and our Health and Safety Manager. They assessed the situation and drew up plans in line with government and industry guidance relevant at that time
Through discussion and with the cooperation of our clients we took the difficult decision to close our sites in advance of the ‘official’ government lock-down, since at that stage we were not confident that social distancing arrangements were adequate under the site working methodologies in place. At this point our site teams and many of our office staff were reluctantly, furloughed.
Many of our technical and administrative staff were able to work from home. Whilst some staff have returned to the office, we have applied a flexible approach to allow a continuation of this where circumstances make it possible or desirable. We have offered and applied additional support and regular Zoom and Teams discussions for both operational and pastoral reasons to ensure that our staff remain engaged in the wider sense. This approach has been proven to be very successful and we are considering a more flexible arrangement in future when things get ‘back to normal’
In parallel with the above (and as government guidance evolved) we established an action plan to formulate safe start-up procedures and method statements to allow for appropriate social distancing measures to be applied to our sites to protect the workforce. In all cases our procedures are compliant with the latest advice and legislation applicable at the time and are continually reviewed and revised as circumstances change.
Our sites are again all operational and our Covid-19 team continues to review and adapt our procedures as the situation develops. We have been in continuous communication with our supply-chain partners to ensure full compliance.