The ‘Pingdemic’: How to reduce its impact on the UK’s building industry
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The ‘pingdemic’ has had a major impact across the country in recent months, especially as we continue to emerge from lockdown. Victoria Brocklesby, COO at Origin, explains how the ‘pingdemic’ is affecting supply chains, and how the company is helping its Partners stay on track by minimising disruption and maintaining its ‘On Time, In Full’ promise.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought with it a variety of challenges. This has been seen throughout many industries, including construction, with many sites and manufacturing facilities unable to operate due to UK-wide lockdowns. As a result, many materials are now in short supply, and we are seeing significant price increases.
However, it is not all doom and gloom, especially for those of us working within the homebuilding industry. The increase in people working from home has led to a huge rise in the number of Brits wanting to improve their home environment. And with new government initiatives, like the Help to Build scheme, residential building is happening at an unprecedented rate. As demand continues to increase, the industry must respond and take advantage of the additional opportunities available.
Whilst incredibly positive, this boom has coincided with a spike of ‘pings’, forcing many workers to self-isolate for up to 10 days at a time. This has inevitably led to staff shortages. ‘Pings’ peaked in July 2021, with the number of people receiving self-isolation alerts in a single week in England and Wales reaching nearly 700,000. At Origin, our staff are our top priority and keeping them safe is paramount to the way we operate. We have devoted significant effort and resource to ensure that we continue to function as efficiently as we did pre-COVID so that our Partners are supplied on time in full, and our Origin family is kept safe. As a result of this, a series of rigorous protocols have been implemented across the company, from those working at our manufacturing and warehouse facilities, through to our offices and showroom.
Minimising disruption
Although the legal requirements around self-isolating changed on the 16th of August, we have decided that the systems we implemented during the pandemic will remain in place throughout the business. This is because, although the risk of being ‘pinged’ has diminished, there are still substantial risks to catching the virus. We are unwilling to risk our staff with an outbreak even as restrictions continue to lift in wider society.
Temperature is the most obvious symptom of the virus and therefore we ensure all employees are checked and monitored. Every member of staff must have their temperature checked on a daily basis when they arrive on site. This is the simplest way to keep staff protected and it only takes seconds to do.
Alongside checking temperature, testing is one of the most useful forms of protection. As a result, every member of staff entering an Origin premises must take a rapid test before arrival to ensure their safety on site. This is the same for everyone, whether they are on site for one hour, one day or the full week, there is no excuse.
Even though restrictions were eased in July, social distancing has remained of the upmost importance to us. The two-shift pattern we established over the last 18 months for our warehouse and production facilities ensures that the number of staff working at the same time is kept to a minimum. Social distancing is much easier as a result and means that if a member of staff does test positive, the number of staff members needing to isolate remains low. We have extended this focus on social distancing to our office where the seating plan ensures that contact between staff members is limited, especially amongst those unable to work from home.
Keeping the risk to our staff at a minimum is much easier following the introduction of these protocols, allowing us to continue working at full capacity. The commitment to our Partners that they will never miss an install date is what Origin was founded on and we want to ensure that we keep this promise. Investing heavily in stock and our manufacturing facilities has also guaranteed that this will continue. Given Origin’s status as a top UK employer, it would go against everything it stands for, and what is expected of the business, if we put our staff at risk.
In Summary
Adapting to the pandemic has been a focus for every business worldwide. While the ‘pingdemic’ has made circumstances more challenging, we have always continued to adapt and innovate so that we continue to offer our gold standard of support to our Partners. The surge in demand is a huge opportunity for Origin and its Partners and is something that, with the right systems and protocols in place, can be capitalised on.
For more information about Origin, please visit www.origin-global.com.