While the climate seems positively mild for November, there is cold weather just around the corner. While there’s a chance December will continue to be mild, January and February are always cold, with icy roads and frosty window screens aplenty. So preparing your business for the bad weather this year and next is an important thing to do.

But what can you do to protect your business and in turn your employees too? Below are Direct365’s 6 tips to prepare your business for the winter.

Gritting

This is a really important part of winter preparation. On private property, the council have no obligation to grit the ground outside of your business. The road is a different matter, but you are responsible for keeping car parks and pavements close to your premises.

So with that in mind, you should be looking to one of two options. Either hiring a provider who can offer gritting services at an automated temperature. The second choice is to buy salt yourself and manually grit your business. Both options are available from Direct365. For more information on how we can help, visit our Gritting and Snow Clearance service page.

Ensure Heating is Serviced and Used Frequently

You should really be careful that your heating pipes are maintained properly, and that can include using the heating itself.

In the cold weather, if they’re used infrequently, the pipes in buildings – especially older building – can seize up and crack. When this happens, water can leak and cause an even bigger problem for your business. And depending on where these leaks are, it can mean big trouble for stock, electronics or even servers.

Hand Sanitizing Stations

It isn’t just the risk of COVID that should encourage you to supply hand sanitizer. Other illnesses that spread easily around workplaces, like colds and flu and other bugs, can be reduced with a more cleanly working environment. Thinking of how illness impacts both your employees and your bottom line, you can easily see how helping keep sickness to a minimum can positively affect your business.

For hand sanitiser at a great price, check out our range of affordable hand sanitisers and refills, here.

Keep the Hot Drinks Stocked Up

These tips are all very sensible, but this tip is arguably one for the morale during the winter. Ensuring your stock of tea and coffee is full can help on those cold weather mornings (and afternoons) and keep people from getting too cool. Who doesn’t love a warm cuppa on a freezing Monday morning?

Ensure Protective Wear Works

Many job roles across the country involve employees working in the cold elements. Either outside or in cold warehouses or sites, some job roles come with cold weather as an occupational risk.

With that in mind, it is important that you provide your employees with good working protective equipment and clothing, from gloves, coats and gillets to protective headwear and boots. Ensure you do a rollcall on all PPE and any items that are damaged or missing should be replaced.

Less Pressure to be in on Time

One thing that the cold weather does is bring icy conditions and in turn more accidents. Then, when the same conditions happen every year, why do employers still feel the need to demand workers arrive at the same time as in the summer? Naturally, if you care about your employees, you would allow them a little extra wiggle room in the winter for arriving at work. If an employee arrives at 9.10am instead of 9am, but arrives safely, what is the problem? Giving employees a little longer could help keep them safe in frosty weather.

There are just a few things that we thing are important to keeping your business and workforce on top of their game this winter. Can you think of anything else that may prepare your business for winter?

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