Douglas Partners is actively monitoring COVID-19 developments to mitigate impact to the health and safety of our people, clients and community. Although we are committed to continuing to provide a strong level of service to our clients throughout the course of these times, the onset of the Omicron strain and the self-isolation requirements of people may cause unavoidable delays in delivery in the short term. In such instances, we will endeavour to keep our clients informed of any issues that may impact our services.
We would like to share the measures we are currently taking and our business continuity plans, which we continue to review as the situation develops.
COVID-19 Risk Group
Douglas Partners has established a dedicated COVID-19 Safe Group to continually assess the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and determine appropriate mitigations. Due to the rapidly changing nature of Australian and global developments, this group is meeting regularly to coordinate plans and preparations.
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
We are committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees, clients, suppliers and community. Douglas Partners continues to implement the advice of the Department of Health and respective State Government Public Health Orders.
All employees who meet the Government’s criteria for self-isolation are required not to attend their office or work site for at least 7 days and until a negative Rapid Antigen as well as a PCR Tests are obtained. Douglas Partners have COVID-19 response protocols in place to deal with anyone who may be a close contact or have a confirmed case of COVID-19. We will endeavour to keep our clients informed of any issues that may impact our services or their people.
COVID-19 controls are included in our Safe Work Method Statements to cover the risk of transmission.
For the benefit of our people and visitors, we have reinforced good hygiene with education and signage in each of our offices. Hand sanitisers and soap at wash stations continue to be provided. Every office has the use of contactless thermometers and visitors are required to have a short temperature check upon entry.
Individual action plans are in place to protect the health of vulnerable people members, including consideration for any vulnerable family members.
We are proactively engaging with our people on the best ways to support each other through this new paradigm. Various initiatives designed to focus on wellbeing have been successfully implemented. We continue to check in with our people on a regular basis and would be happy to share our initiatives with you.
Physical Distancing
Physical distancing measures have been implemented across all our operations, including minimising unnecessary face-to-face contact. All meetings are encouraged to take place online or via teleconference.
Our field work and laboratory testing continue to operate in a safe manner with additional measures in place to meet the current precautionary requirements. We are also working with our clients to ensure that preventative measures are being practised on site.
Douglas Partners has postponed all client functions and large meetings at this stage. We look forward to inviting everyone to gather again in due course.
Travel
Any overseas or interstate travel plans (work or personal) are required to be reported by our employees in advance. International work travel is no longer permitted. Domestic work travel is restricted to essential travel only, which must be approved by the COVID-19 Safe Group.
Business Continuity
To enable us to continue to provide a strong level of service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our business continuity plan is being reviewed regularly as the situation unfolds.
Prior to the pandemic, the Douglas Group Safe Committee’s business continuity plans contained well-established protocols to manage remote work. This has been augmented to allow for additional teams to work remotely.
Our people have successfully transitioned to remote working arrangements wherever possible. Business units within our offices are being protected via measures that allow physical distancing across operations.
Our network and systems are accessible remotely and can be managed via our office-based or cloud-based servers.
A natural strength of Douglas Partners lies in our geographical spread with 20 offices across Australia connected by a reliable network and the ability to share resources between these offices. Each office has a detailed COVID-19 Management Plan specifically tailored to the needs and surroundings of that office and its people.
Douglas Partners does not rely on a complicated supply chain. We engage in business continuity discussions with our key suppliers and review their mitigation measures. We have been assured of their access to essential consumables and will continue to monitor and engage with our suppliers.
We recognise that unforeseen circumstances may arise and will endeavour to keep our clients informed of any issues that may impact our services.
We encourage our suppliers and clients to stay in close communication with us so that we can continue to work together in supporting our businesses and most importantly our people through this time.
Further information
If you would like any further information about the measures Douglas Partners is taking in response to COVID-19, please email [email protected].
