For some businesses, their connection to essential services means they have to keep working during the lockdown. And for one Aberdeenshire business, it’s keeping things going in a safe way that is top of their agenda.
ITC Hydraulics & Manufacturing Ltd, based in Inverurie, supplies services to a number of sectors, most notably oil and gas and agriculture. And to help the chains of energy and food production continue as close to normal as possible during the Covid-19 pandemic, they have adapted their ways of working.
Erlend Corrigall, business development at the company, explained: “Like every other company in the country, we’ve changed how we work and who is currently working.
“We have some staff on furlough and our workshop has minimal staff in it to ensure social distancing.
“Those of us who can work from home are doing so, and if people need to go on-site they do it at different times to avoid coming into close contact with someone else.”
The company has also closed its gates – although they are still serving customers.
“We often have people who just come in to see us, which they obviously can’t do. So we’ve implemented a system where they can call us and we’ll come out of the workshop to take a delivery or give them their equipment.”
He added: “We are also using Microsoft Teams, video calls and WhatsApp messaging to keep all staff informed and up to date.
“Before that we were doing twice weekly ‘town halls’ because there was so much advice coming out, and some of it was conflicting depending on whether it was Holyrood or Westminster issuing it.”
ITC Hydraulics implemented hand washing and hygiene measures long before they were recommended by the government. They have now made sure staff have the necessary PPE and processes to do their jobs with the minimal risk of virus transfer.
For Erlend and the rest of the team, they are trying to ensure customers get the same quality of product and service as possible.
“The only thing that’s really changed is time – and that’s because we get a lot of our components from the north of Italy. We are getting them, it’s just taking a bit longer than normal because there has been issues with shipping in the past month or two.”
But even if it takes a bit longer, ITC will keep going during the lockdown.
“We have a strong determination to keep operating as long as we can get parts and customers are contacting us.
“Our services are contributing to the energy flow and we understand how vital it is that we continue to play our role in that.”
Find out more about ITC at their website.