Apr 1, 2020
- COVID19
- Health and wellbeing
- Urban Issues
Citywide has completed a COVID-19 scenario exercise to test the readiness of our business continuity plans in the event operational teams suffer a coronavirus outbreak.
The company is continuing to deliver customer services across Victoria, NSW, ACT and Queensland, under current government guidelines defining ‘essential services’.
As part of advanced pandemic and contingency planning, the exercise was designed to test the developed local response plans, close-contact tracing protocols and overall management of the event, personnel and assets.
It also tested the recovery responses including personnel and asset isolation and recovery, based on a scenario of an employee located at a metropolitan depot testing positive to the coronavirus.
Since the global pandemic was declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Citywide has implemented stringent separation distancing measures, which include where possible:
- Maintaining a minimum distance of two metres;
- No more than two operational crew members per vehicle;
- Staggered shift start times where practicable, and;
- Minimising the mixing of crews.
We’ve also implemented enhanced hygiene measures to protect our teammates and people they come into contact, including extensive sanitisation and decontamination of vehicle cabins and assets using specific cleaning processes and chemicals.
We’ve also enacted remote working directions for office-based corporate and operational support staff.
All these actions are designed to mitigate the risk of Coronavirus transmission internally or between staff, our customers and members of the public while we continue delivering essential community services.
"It was important we conducted this exercise to be as prepared as possible. Running such drills has been a feature of our operational contingency planning since before the virus began spreading overseas," Duncan Reid, Executive - Operations, said.
"This week's COVID-19 drill helped us identify several possible scenarios in the event we are genuinely challenged by a real-time positive diagnosis within our operational ranks.
"By that measure alone, I'm confident this was a successful exercise which helps us maintain our alertness and readiness to respond quickly while ensuring our essential services to the Australian community continue."
Media Contact:
Simon Mossman - Group Corporate Communications
M 0427 307 216
E simon.mossman@citywide.com.au