Ecosave is committed to continuing the delivery of services and goods to our clients while complying with all government and health requirements in relation to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Over recent weeks, Ecosave have implemented a company-wide policy, risk mitigation measures and guidelines to our installation teams in relation to COVID-19 in order to safeguard our clients, employees and subcontractors.
- All office-bound staff are now working remotely from home and all meetings are conducted through video conferencing technology platforms.
- Site visits attended by Ecosave staff and subcontractors will continue, however, with new risk mitigation measures and safety procedures to ensure health and safety of all stakeholders involved.
Unique opportunity to press-ahead with energy efficiency upgrades
Amidst the social distancing and restrictive measures advised by the government and health authorities, there is a unique window of opportunity to implement energy efficiency upgrades at many of our clients’ facilities that have been temporarily closed or access restricted to essential personnel only in order to minimise the spread of COVID-19.
If your facilities have temporarily closed to the public and/or the workforce are now working from home, the building occupancy will be significantly lower compared prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic. As a result, energy efficiency upgrades that would otherwise disrupt operations can still proceed and possibly accelerated to completion ahead of schedule. This could be achieved whilst ensuring adherence to new social distancing norms and good hygiene practices as described below.
Ecosave’s COVID-19 risk mitigation guidance to staff and subcontractors
As part of our risk management plan concerning COVID-19, we have put together some practical (and strictly enforced) guidelines on how our staff will prepare and work at various client sites.
These guidelines are designed to keep your employees, our staff and the community at large safe. These guidelines do not negate the requirement for our Staff and Subcontractors to complete a Safety Work Method Statement (SWMS) or a Job Safety Assessment (JSA) – which will be completed and specifically highlight COVID-19 as a hazard for each work step or task with control measures to be implemented and documented.
In order to minimise health and safety risk concerning COVID-19 we will be restructuring our installation teams:
- Installation teams will be smaller than usual
- All social distancing and personal hygiene practices will be adhered to (see below for details)
- Where possible, we will use the same team for all works at a given work site (to minimise cross-site contamination)
- Limit contact between dedicated teams
Prior to attending site, Ecosave will ensure
- Communication with all stakeholdersEcosave will communicate with site prior to attendance to ascertain site requirements, any site-specific hazards and to plan with site any actions to minimise risks. Communicate with Ecosave prior to attending work site to confirm:
– Any site-specific instructions from Ecosave or client
– Any identified site-specific hazards - Updates to documentation and work site procedures:SWMS and/or JSEA will be updated prior to attending site to identify any particular site hazards and control measures required and highlighting specific COVID-19 risks.
In general, Ecosave will step through the job process and identify any steps or tasks that may require the following:
– Face to face contact with persons
– Touching a surface which may be touched by somebody else
COVID-19 Control measures
Ecosave’s control measures will include good hygiene practices, “social distancing”, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE e.g. gloves, masks etc), thorough cleaning of contacted surfaces and regular communication between on-site team(s) and Ecosave.
While attending site, Ecosave will ensure all staff and subcontractors take all reasonable actions to minimise the spread of COVID-19. These guidelines are set out as a minimum requirement, job specific actions will be documented in the Safety Work Method Statements (SWMS) and/or Job Safety Analysis (JSA) for the job.
- Good Hygiene
– Avoid touching of face
– Cough and sneeze into a tissue and put tissue directly into bin.
If our staff does not have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow or upper arm
– Wash hands with soap or disinfect using an alcohol-based solution:
before attending site
after using the bathroom
before and after eating
after leaving site
if your hands look visibly dirty
if you have sneezed or coughed
– Use alcohol-based wipes to wipe contacted surfaces prior to and after use - Social distancing
– Limit all contact with people or animals; if possible, change work to avoid contact with individuals – for example, completing installation works in unoccupied spaces only
– Maintain a distance of 1.5m between individuals at all times
– Not passing goods directly to / from other personnel and place in a location and step back from the area whilst the goods are collected.
– If our staff or contractors are feeling unwell, they are required to stay home and seek medical advice. - Use of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)
– Gloves: When working on parts of the job that may have been touched by unknown persons (i.e. fuse boxes, light switches, handling documentation) wear gloves.
If wearing gloves is not possible, before and after touching the surface:
Our staff and contractors are to wipe down the surface with alcohol base disinfectant wipes and wash or disinfect your hands. - Cleaning
Once the job is done, on-site team(s) are to wipe down, with alcohol-based wipes, any areas that anyone from the property may touch - Communication with Ecosave
Please communicate with Ecosave any questions, concerns or issues. Our priority is keeping everybody safe while delivering services. Every individual should feel empowered to speak up and ask questions. We are here to support you and your staff through these unprecedented times.
For any questions or further information regarding these guidelines, please contact your Ecosave contact or hsecommittee@ecosave.com.au.
