Just One More Risk

Who’s Minding the Fort?

The same ‘old’ risks exist even though there’s a new one

There's a better than even chance, you are reading this at home. Social distancing (working remotely) is here in force, for now anyway. It might become the new thing and then again, it might turn out to be a coping method to get us through and after the current problem passes, we all return to more conventional working routines. Truth is, it will probably turn out to be a mix of both, because the safe bet is that things will never be the same again.

So here's a quick question for you whilst you are sipping tea in your PJ's in your home office. Who's minding the fort? That is, if say 50% of Wardens and 1st Aiders are not in the office, who's taking charge if something happens?

Most office-dwellers have experienced the bewilderment on colleagues’ faces when the building's alarm system activates and they pepper the emergency wardens with the same questions as the last time the alarms sounded. "What are we supposed to do?" - and that's the chaos when the wardens, are right there!

Now sit back and picture the chaos if something were to happen in that same workplace whilst whatever percentage of your workplace, are working from home.

So whilst your IT team are having a meltdown arranging remote access for half the Company, and HR is hastily drafting a policy that forbids 'clothing optional' days in your new home office, your OH&S team is trying to figure out the implications of you tripping over your pet Dachshund and hitting your head whilst at home but at work! - there's just so many new things to figure out.

But this is where we can end up focusing on the new and forgetting the old. It’s not a case of 'Out with the old and in with the new', but more, 'In with the old and in with the new'.

Corporate anxiety can spread fast and cause leaders and teams to make poor decisions. Without firm answers to questions about the future, corporate anxiety grows. Whilst many may try, right now, no-one can make accurate predictions describing exactly what any industry will look like in 3, 6, or 12 months.

So, right now the rational approach isn’t predictions. It’s preparation for what comes next and whilst we are doing so, that includes, what comes now.

Which brings me back to what risks arise as a result of your workplace being less populous as it usually is.

If you are a property or facilities manager, an employer or part of the OH&S team for your organisation, now is the time to reassess who’s minding the fort. You might now have a huge risk that needs to be addressed before one of the ‘old’ threats comes back to bite you.

In response, over at CAPACITY Building Emergency Management, like so many other industries, have ramped up our webinar capabilities to help all our clients' Wardens keep compliant with training. But more importantly, to provide for the new trainees your organisation needs to fill the void, now that many trained Wardens are no longer there.