As the novel coronavirus COVID-19 begins to have an impact on our country's (and very much the world's) communities, we feel it's important to connect with you directly to share our values, and the steps we are taking to help stop the spread while also striving to maintain our workforce.
Our preparedness plan has been activated for several weeks now, and we continue to monitor the rapidly evolving situation. We are following government protocols and their lead very closely as it's crucial not only for the health of all Australians, but also to ensure various businesses are to remain open.
What we are doing to stop the spread of COVID-19
- All First Response MS employees and contractors are following strict hygiene guidelines and checklists on site. This is documented in our risk assessment before we start the work, and we conduct toolbox talks each time the government updates protocols.
- Teams sizes are reduced and if not limited to 2.
- We are not working in any locations that have groups of people.
- We already have a work from anywhere, anytime policy. All of our systems are online, meaning our "office" staff can access everything they need from wherever they are in the world.
What we are doing to maintain employee retention and keep our team busy and employed
One of First Response's main business purposes is to improve the lives of people we work and partner with. With the current state of affairs, we now see this as the perfect time to demonstrate how committed we are to this purpose.
- All directors have taken reduced salary for 3 months in an effort to keep the most important people in the business (staff) employed through this difficult time.
- We are working on break even margins. We directly employ over 25 people, and have another 30 or so sub-contractors that rely on us each week to help feed their family. We do not take this responsibility lightly and will do everything in our power to keep them earning money each week.
How we are helping clients get through
- We acknowledge the new remote working environment our clients are in and understand that they might not have access to all of the information that they would normally have.
- We are here to help, we aim to respond quickly to quotes or call outs.
- We are happy to provide video and photographic updates on projects, if and when required.
- We will provide provide copies of our OHS compliance information outlining the COVID-19 protocols we are following on each of your sites if necessary.
Please don't hesitate to contact a member of the First Response team should you have any questions or if you would like to speak to one of us.
We hope you and your families stay healthy, and we appreciate your support in keeping our community safe.