SURPRISE COVID-SECURITY INSPECTION FOR DEALERSHIP

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Chris Gibson of commercial turfcare specialists GGM Groundscare in Colne, Lancashire has told Service Dealer about a surprise visit his dealership received from a council health and safety officer this week - checking to make sure the business was complying with all covid-security guidelines.

Chris told us the random audit, which fellow dealers might want to be aware of, came out of the blue on Monday. Chris said, "At the moment the doors to the showroom are locked anyway - people have to ring the bell to get attention or to drop something off. On Monday the bell rang and it was a health and safety inspector from the local council.

"Basically, the officer was visiting randomly chosen local businesses to check up on their covid-compliance. He came in and he spoke to our Health & Safety Coordinator who is also in charge of our covid policy, and conducted a 10 minute interview. He had a series of questions, including things like 'is the business open?' and 'do you have staff on site?'

"He continued with various questions about what we are doing to keep everyone safe and went through a checklist of items on his iPad. We had an open dialogue with him about all that we are doing."

Chris said that the only suggestion that the officer gave them to aid the measures they already had in place - which includes temperature checks for staff and only displaying machinery for customers at a safe distance out in the yard - was that they could prop open some doors as it was identified that door handles were the most touched item by all staff in the business.  "As these were fire doors that play a significant part in limiting the spread of fire and smoke in our buildings," explained Chris, "we carried out an assessment before making the change - ensuring they were not required to support the fire safety strategy of the building.

"We then relayed the changes to staff and asked them to remain extra vigilant during the working day.

"The officer made it quite clear that if he hadn't been happy with anything we'd been doing he would have come back to make sure things had changed," confirmed Chris. "But thankfully we were well on top of everything that we needed to be and he told us he won't need to return.

"To be honest I took a degree of comfort from the visit. Both from the point of view that it's reassuring to know we've been doing the right things - but also to know there's someone checking up on any rogue businesses."