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  • Facility Management

    FMs REACT

    Nov 04, 2020 14 minutes
    “I feel a responsibility to my staff and am searching for ways to endure.”
    – Tamika Davey

    MATTHEW CURRIE

    NATIONAL MAINTENANCE MANAGER AT ARA GROUP

    Currie has worked in the facility services space for more than 20 years. For the first 15, he owned a business with his brother, and he now works within the ARA Group. Over the journey he’s worn many different hats but, for the last few years, his role at ARA has seen him work with many clients across all states on their project, preventive and reactive maintenance requests.

    What has COVID-19 meant for you?

    Initially, like most businesses, we didn’t know which way things would fall. For our cleaning teams, it meant that business would boom in the COVID-19 cleaning space, while our reactive type maintenance works took a hit at the start. But after a couple of weeks we were much better placed. l also manage a team of staff and contractors who look after more than 1400 assets for Yarra Trams and, with the trams being an essential service, we still had to be out and about on the network for any safety-related items. My role allows me to get out of the house each day, which has been great as l wouldn’t cope very well in isolation.

    What special measures have you had to put in place?

    As soon as COVID-19 hit, all of our techs and contractors were issued with masks, disposable gloves and sanitiser. Each day we would complete a ‘take five’ and discuss the importance of social distancing and the need to use only your own tools and, if you did need to borrow tools from someone, how they would get wiped down before being passed back. We now only allow one staff member in each company vehicle and continually talk about safe hygiene practices. My office staff now all work from home, which, again, has minimised community transmission.

    What lessons have you learned and what steps are you putting in place for the future?

    I’m looking forward to getting my team back together and all under the same roof. While we’ve now mastered the ‘working from home’ set-up, I’m a believer in having the teams together and in the social interaction we all now miss.

    JOANNE TONKS

    GENERAL MANAGER AT

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