Covid-19 - business continuity update 16th March 2020

Forward Waste are constantly monitoring the COVID-19/Coronavirus situation at both national and international level and are taking every precaution to ensure the health measures and disease prevention within our working environments, as the safety and well-being of our employees, customers and suppliers is always our greatest priority.  
Following the announcement made by the World Health Organisation that Coronavirus/Covid-19 has been classified as a pandemic and subsequent UK Government directives as at todays date, I am writing to outline the updated measures we have put in place to ensure business continuity, recognising the broad range of services we provide our customers during this critical time.

Our Business Continuity Plan procedures are directed and managed by our senior management team, dedicated to our strategy and response to this pandemic and we will continue to update the Business Continuity Plan to ensure the safe and effective continuation of our day to day activities. Therefore, interim procedures have been put in place, including:

• Continuous communication with our employees reminding them about the importance of good hygiene, providing them with suitable equipment and facilities, health education and support whenever needed
• Restrictions on all non-essential travel, limits to the size of meetings and provision of remote-work solutions
• Extended application of our VPN, enabling Forward employees to perform many office functions away from site. We will therefore instruct our employees to work remotely where and when appropriate.  For those employees such as drivers, transfer station operatives, engineers and site staff who are required to interact with both colleagues and customers alike, we have taken steps to limit exposure to the virus and continue to reinforce safe behaviour at both customer and supplier business locations as well as our own facilities and offices.
• Direction that employees who feel ill to not report to work, with specific quarantine and communication procedures in place should an employee be diagnosed with COVID-19 or is asked to self-isolate by a public health authority
• Increased office and workspace cleaning services through our appointed contractor, with clear protocols in place that if required will activate closure, disinfection and appropriate quarantine procedures based on recommendations by government and health agencies

We are closely monitoring updates from both the UK Government and the World Health Organisation and we will continue to seek guidance from these agencies, government departments and public health officials on an ongoing basis.
 
We will continue to monitor the situation and apply all measures necessary to maintain safe, compliant and reliable waste and resource management for your business, with further updates being sent to you as soon as appropriate.  In understanding that your requirements may be affected by the current situation, please get in touch if we can be of any other assistance.