Iceland: Keeping doors open during COVID-19

Location:

Multiple sites in the North West of England

Client:

Iceland Foods Ltd

Site use:

Food retail

Overview:

Food retailers are playing an important frontline role in the Coronavirus crisis. Iceland is one of them. The national frozen food retailer is a familiar presence in most towns and cities in the UK, and helps families keep their freezers full on a budget.

Iceland asked us to help make sure their properties are functional and safe in these difficult and unprecedented times. They needed supply to meet demand, staff to be able to do their job safely, and customers to feel secure while they’re buying essential supplies for themselves and their families

The Challenge – Keeping doors open during Covid-19:

Supermarkets like Iceland are under huge pressure to keep shelves full, protect staff and customers from Coronavirus, and follow all government and public health advice closely. Iceland’s top priorities were to stay open, keep staff and customers safe, and remain a reliable and trusted food retailer during COVID-19.

They needed the PMC team to be available 24/7 for critical maintenance jobs like burst pipes and broken doors, so they could stay open and trading. Iceland also needed us to help them put robust social distancing measures in place throughout their stores.

How PMC helped – reactive 24/7 maintenance:

We became Iceland’s safe pair of hands behind the scenes. Our team provided reactive maintenance and 24/7 emergency callouts. In-store staff could pick up the phone at any time, day or night, and we’d be there. This included door and lock repairs and welfare facilities repair.

To protect staff and customers, we put social distancing tape on the floor to guide people around stores safely. We also installed glass barriers at the checkouts.

Results:

• Social distancing measures put in place fast.
• All reactive maintenance callouts responded to within 4 hours.
• Paperwork and risk assessments sorted and signed off.

Our reliable emergency maintenance programme helps Iceland stay open for their customers. We were planning to work together before the COVID-19 crisis hit, but they asked us to step up and help them quickly. We delivered, and will keep delivering, so their frozen food stays frozen, customers can safely buy the essentials they need, and staff are protected.