A Day in the Life of a Plumber during Coronavirus
Welcome to episode 2 of the FJM blog. I hope everybody is keeping safe and well during these times. I am sure, as we are, everybody else is finding it hard in coming to terms with fighting an enemy we cannot see and having such tight measures impact our lives so much. So, I thought it would be a good time to share how we are managing to operate during this period safely and some additional thoughts I have regarding a positive impact of the Covid-19 impact.
We are extremely fortunate to be in a position where we are considered key workers, so from a business point of view, we are still able to function and (‘touching wood’) we have not had to furlough any of our staff or scale back too much. Our workload has dropped significantly so things are tight, so essential jobs are all we can realistically carry out, such as water leaks, no heating/hot water and vulnerable customers.
However, this does mean that we must take a lot of precautions each day to ensure we are working safely so that we protect ourselves and our customers. At the end of every day, Pete and I make sure we wash our clothes from the day so that we have clean clothes to wear the following day, this helps make sure we are not transmitting anything via our clothing as much as possible. We have good stocks of antibacterial hand gel, soap and wipes as well as nitrile gloves and face masks.
We have devised a van cleaning system we use every time we get back into our vans, whether that be first thing in the morning, after a job or when we get home in the evening. We thoroughly wipe all surfaces down which we touch with antibacterial wipes like the steering wheel, indicator stalks, gear stick, handles, seat belt, radio knobs and handles. We even make sure that we thoroughly wipe our tools, keys and phones at regular intervals as these are constantly being touched. And then we use our antibac soap or gel to make sure our hands are as clean as possible.
When in our customers’ homes, we maintain our social distancing measures at all times, always wear our nitrile gloves, touching as few surfaces as possible, and then once we are done, we wipe all surfaces down that we have touched with antibac wipes again. The nitrile gloves are then discarded ready for a new pair at each job. We also wear our face masks where possible in our customer’s home. Now don’t get me wrong, our measures may not be perfect in the eyes of some but we are going as far as we practically can to make sure we protect all parties. When it comes to payment we are encouraging our customers to pay via BACS or over the phone with our lovely office lady Suzy.
So during these times, the measures we have to take is impacting a lot on our day, we have to be constantly focused on what we are doing from a hygiene perspective and these measures do slow us down a bit, but I am also an optimist. I honestly do believe there are a lot of positive things that can come amid this horrible Covid-19 virus.
From a hygiene perspective I can honestly say my hands especially, have never been so clean. I think we become a little ignorant to how important it is to keep our hands clean when we touch so much in our daily lives. So I will definitely wash my hands more often going forward.
And from a social, business and climate perspective I believe the lasting impacts could be huge. As a race we really do live to excess in all aspects of our lives. We take it for granted that we can just get in a car, go to the shop, go and see people, shop til we drop and all manner of other tasks. Businesses expect their employees to commute for hours and miles every day to an office. If a lot of individuals and business owners actually sat and thought about the impact they are having on our planet by carrying out their daily tasks, I think many would think twice. And if this period could teach us anything, it’s that people can work from home more, businesses can still run remotely quite well it seems. Do we really need to make that little trip in the car or could we walk??? I have definitely noticed in this little corner of Kent that the air seems less hazy, it is much quieter and there is more wildlife. I’m sure I am not alone in realising this and I just hope that there can be lessons learnt and new ways of living and working that can actually contribute to helping our planet bounce back from the impending climate disaster which is fast approaching.
And finally……….. Does this not make you appreciate your friends, family and loved ones much more now that you can only have limited contact with them? This is what is the most important thing in my life, that has been drummed home. I cannot wait to have that cup of tea with my parents, go for a day out with my sister, give my baby nephew a massive hug and enjoy a nice beer with a few friends I haven’t seen for a few months now!!!!!
Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone continues to stay safe.