Open to Trade
Since we announced the temporary closure of depots on the 24 March, we have received many requests from customers to help them where we can. To support our trade account holders, and our local communities, we have now opened our depots with measures in place to serve our customers safely. We are now also offering home visits as part of our design appointments for homeowners in England and Wales.
Top tips for homeowners
Clean regularly
In places where work will be carried out or visited, within high-traffic areas of your home like hallways, and in shared facilities like toilets, it is important to clean surfaces with disinfectant, before and after your home visit.
Minimise contact
Try to limit how much contact your visitor will have with objects in your home. For example, keeping internal doors open will prevent them touching door handles, and ask them to supply their own food and drinks to keep them refreshed.
Reduce distractions
Getting the job done quickly will reduce the time you are exposed to potential contagions. This could mean keeping pets and children occupied in other rooms and limiting face-to-face contact with your visitor to less than 15 minutes.
Self-isolate
If you or a member of your household is self-isolating, only emergency repairs can be carried out. Additional measures should also be in place to reduce the risk of infection, for example, keeping vulnerable members in a separate room while work is completed.
Top tips for tradespeople
Travel separately
Try to travel solo to each job to limit contact with colleagues. If this isn’t possible, stay with the same people throughout the journey and on the job. It is also important to regularly clean your vehicle and ensure it is well ventilated.
Manage workers
It is important to allocate the same worker to the same household for each visit and task that is carried out there. This is to limit the number of people your staff, and members of that household, come in contact with.
Clean tools
Where possible, tools should not be shared between colleagues to minimise the risk of infection. If they need to be shared, please ensure tools are cleaned with disinfectant after use and all tools after each job too.
Social distance
It is recommended to stay 2 metres apart from others at all time, including while tasks are carried out. It is also important to ensure good hygiene is maintained throughout the day - using hand sanitiser regularly will help.
Staying safe at Howdens during COVID-19
Keeping our staff and customers safe remains our top priority at Howdens. We are following the latest official Government guidelines, and are carefully monitoring the COVID-19 situation so we can maintain safety and wellbeing. See more on how we are staying COVID-19 secure in 2020.
Our COVID-19 Risk Assessment
Following strict Health and Safety practices, we have undertaken a COVID -19 risk assessment to determine how we can operate, whilst maintaining the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues, customers, and the wider community. To find out more, read our risk assessment, which will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to reflect the latest advice and guidance from official sources.
