VIDEO: How UKPN has prepared its offices for return to work

UK Power Networks has completed the first in a series of modifications to its sites as it prepares to phase in the return of 50 per cent of staff to its offices.

Usually around 150 people work at UKPN’s Brunel Way office in Colchester. As part of its phased approach to reintroducing staff, the company has transformed the site by installing social distancing measures in workspaces and in staff recreational areas.

New measures include a temperature check camera which sets off an alarm and alerts staff if an employee attempts to enter the building with a high temperature, hygiene stations with hand sanitisers and step and pull levers at the bottom of doors to avoid the need to touch door handles.

Property services manager Alex Taylor gave staff a virtual tour of the Colchester office, which is the first of more than 100 sites across the East, South East and London, to have adaptations completed.  Taylor highlighted how a zig-zag formation will be applied to the seating arrangements at desks, with colleagues sitting diagonally on opposite sides, ensuring a distance of two metres or more is maintained.

Taylor also explained cleaning staff were now using virucidal cleaning liquids when mopping floors, which he said were 99.99 per cent effective at combating bacteria.

A spokesperson for the company told Utility Week it was working on plans to get 50 per cent of staff back into its offices, but would not provide details beyond this.

Peter Vujanic, head of safety at UK Power Networks, said: “Safety is paramount for us. We are making a phased return to work for a number of our key workers who have been working from home, and providing a safe environment with social distancing is essential.

“We appreciate that some people might be feeling anxious about coming back to the workplace so we want to reassure them it is as safe as we can possibly make it. Personal responsibility also plays a part. We have worked closely with our trade union partners to make sure this is carried out in a safe way and the Colchester office is an example of how this can work on all our sites.”

Elsewhere in the sector, EDF Energy’s retail managing director Philippe Commaret told Utility Week that he believes the industry will introduce a much more flexible way of working following the pandemic.

“At the beginning of the crisis we not only paused the field force activity but we also made sure that everybody was able to work remotely. I think that we have benefited from this period of time to learn how we can work remotely in a very efficient way. I believe that in our new future, we will introduce a much more flexible way to work in the industry,” he said.