The health and safety of all South Africans is a top priority during the current national state of disaster.
Wahl Bartmann, Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Services Group, the largest private security provider in South Africa with over 55 000 employees deployed across the country, all of whom form a vital part of its infrastructure, says the Group has taken a number of decisive steps to ensure the safety of employees and customers during this challenging time.
He confirmed the group’s actions are aligned with the recommendations from the President and the Minister of Health as well as the guidelines and advisory updates of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).
Bartmann confirmed a special COVID-19 Joint Operating Committee (COVID-JOC) had been set up to monitor the spread of COVID-19 within South Africa and the Fidelity Services Group through monitoring of reported statistics, WHO and NICD, on both confirmed and possible infections.
“For practical purposes, the JOC is situated at our offices in Helderkruin where we have set up a designated central contact point with two dedicated cellphone numbers, a landline number and a dedicated e-mail address to ensure we have a central contact point for collation of information, data and to efficiently manage the flow of communication to and from all stakeholders,” says Bartmann.
These dedicated lines will be manned on a 24/7 basis by two dedicated call centre agents.
Fidelity has also created a facility to log and monitor all incidents reported by employees or customers / suppliers through its national customer base and footprint. To help mitigate and reduce the impact of COVID-19 on its operations and customers.
In order to ensure business continuity and uninterrupted customer service employees have received training on COVID-19 and provided with tools and equipment to reduce risk in their daily duties including hand sanitisers at all building entrances and receptions and gloves and masks for cleaning personnel.
Bartmann says various other contingency and action plans are in place to align with the risks posed by the spread of the virus on a national basis and these contingency plans will be reviewed on a weekly basis and adjusted and aligned to deal with the developing situation.
“Throughout this process we will draw from all of our collective resources within all of our Group business units to deploy additional support services on short notice in affected areas. Our monitoring centre and armed response officers are fully prepared to ensure adequate staffing during the current situation and are properly equipped and educated to provide our customers with continued service.
”Fidelity will continue to monitor the situation and ensure open communication remains a key priority.
