Helping hand

As part of our ongoing series of blogs from throughout the business, we’ll be bringing you stories from our people doing their bit right across the operation on how things have changed during the current crisis.

Today, we hear from delivery office planner/deployment lead, Paul Hodnett. Paul has been supporting the operational team in Greenwich and Charlton, Deptford and Blackheath in south-east London since mid-March. Paul fell ill with a suspected case of covid-19 on 1 April and needed to take two weeks off in isolation as he felt so unwell. He returned to work on Tuesday 14 April.

‘Greenwich SE10 and Charlton are two independent delivery units working from the same site in Horn Lane, Greenwich,’ said Paul. ‘I know the unit and some of the people in Greenwich and Charlton really well as I used to work as a postman there many years ago.

‘I’ve been supporting on a range of issues including resource planning, implementing safety measures and trying to get the unit’s social distancing plans adhered to. I’ve also helped at the customer service point (CSP) when needed.

‘We examined all the internal areas to see where we could improve on social distancing to ensure everyone was able to work while maintaining the two-metre recommended guidelines. This included separating the parcel sort areas and closing off some of the IPS frames to keep colleagues apart and create a safer work environment.

‘We transformed the conference room into a new welfare area, moved the furniture around in the previous welfare area, and introduced a one-person-at-a-time rule in the mess room. We also put tape on the floor of the CSP to ensure customers keep their distance and signage on the walls to remind people of the Government guidelines.

‘Since the ongoing crisis began, we’ve seen a number of delivery issues fed back among colleagues, such as problems around concierges refusing to accept parcels in shared buildings, so there has been a lot of work supporting the returns process.

‘As well as helping to improve the social distancing measures in Blackheath, I was also asked to assist the operations manager, Paul Tucker, in Deptford with their social distancing to create a safer working environment. This was to support the local delivery office manager and CWU. The changes we’ve deployed in Deptford will continue after the lockdown, as we think they have really improved the site.

‘The local CWU, area safety reps and the teams in Greenwich, Blackheath and Deptford have been really supportive of all the necessary on-site changes we have had to make. Colleagues have been amazing throughout this whole situation, helping each other out on delivery, extending their time when needed and observing the new safety measures without fuss. I know that the Greenwich delivery office manager, Richard Coleman is extremely proud of his team.

‘It’s been a real pleasure being able to help out and I hope I’ve been able to make a difference. It doesn’t sound a lot, but when you’re completing 10,000 steps a day from 5.30 in the morning, it can be quite tiring. I’ve been going to bed at 8pm for the last few days!’