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Changes to GGF Group Management Structure
The GGF Group has changed its management structure to focus on its development and improving the services of its subsidiary commercial companies, FENSA,...
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Return To Work - FENSA & GGF Keep The Support Coming
To assist FENSA Approved Installers prepare to enter homes and commercial premises, the organisation has produced a number of return to work documents.
Meanwhile, the GGF, which has already produced a Safe Guide for Homeowners and a Safe Guide for Companies (available entirely free of charge) along with publishing over 55 related articles, is now aiming to provide even more support to continue helping the industry get through the coronavirus crisis.
Timely support
Having maintained services for FENSA Approved Installers throughout lockdown (with advisors operating safely from their homes), the return to work documents now provide timely support for installers and through them, for homeowners seeking guidance about engaging with installers as they undertake home improvements.
These include Practical safety precautions when installing windows & doors during the Covid-19 pandemic; Guidance on completing a risk assessment; and a guide specifically for homeowners having windows and doors installed during the outbreak.
Practical safety precautions
With the lengthy if unequivocal title 'Practical safety precautions when installing windows & doors during the COVID-19 pandemic', the first documents from FENSA will often be regarded as common sense for skilled installers. However, as well as offering practical tips, the guide serves as a check list and one that may easily be circulated to every member of the team, to ensure consensus.
The document is organised into 11 easy to follow sections and that order, in itself, is useful to provide structure to the installation process. These are: Materials; Travelling to site; Communication with the occupant; Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); Arriving at site/pre-installation; Social distancing & minimising contact; Access equipment; Refreshment breaks; Packing up at the end of the day; Disposal of waste products; Returning home.
Each section is concise and written in clear, jargon-free language.
Risk Assessments
Again, whilst many installers may have experience of producing Risk Assessments or indeed, have trained personnel to carry out such tasks, for many the FENSA Guidance on completing a risk assessment, including a template form, provides a check to ensure that such assessments are carried out and actually, fulfilled. In fact, as well as providing guidance on correct procedures the completion of a Risk Assessment for each job is essential to protect the company and individuals in the case of any potential claims arising from work carried out on site.
“Our first priority will always be to help our Members but in this current situation, it is in everyone’s interests for the GGF to also help the entire industry recover.”
– John Agnew
Managing Director, Glass & Glazing Federation
Free to download
Both GGF Safe Guides for Homeowners and Installers respectively are available for free download for all companies in the industry.
"We’ll continue to provide free guidance and information to all companies in the industry," continues the GGF's Agnew. "For Members, we will be putting together some additional activities to provide even more support. It is important the industry’s supply chain starts functioning and for companies to work together. However, they must ensure they can work safely within the government guidance which is the foundation of our all of our articles, Safe Guides and advice.”
Advice for homeowners
FENSA's guide for homeowners (which draws on the work of the GGF) provides similar information as provided in the Practical safety precautions for installers document but of course, as its title suggests, from the perspective of the homeowner. FENSA Approved Installers are now encouraged to pass a copy to their customers in advance of an installation to ensure that both sides are fully engaged in all processes, to ensure swift and safe installations.
All documents, which are written by experienced former installers, are available free of charge to FENSA Approved Installers.
Chris Beedel, FENSA Director of Membership, says it is important that FENSA Approved Installers operate to agreed and shared standards: “There are a number of documents around offering advice about how installers may return to people’s homes and all offer relevant if slightly differing information. Our publications, written by highly skilled former installers, bring all effective advice together for FENSA Approved companies so there is consistency throughout the FENSA network, with all operating to the same high standards.”
Picture: The GGF's guide for home improvement companies and Some of FENSA's Covid-19 return to work documents.
www.fensa.org.uk
www.ggf.org.uk
Article written by Cathryn Ellis
05th June 2020