Electric.ie Nov Dec 2020

ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • 57 Industry News CIF and CEF call for companies across the island to redouble Covid-19 safety measures T he Construction Industry Federation and the Construction Employers Federation have jointly called on their members to collaborate on a cross border basis on tackling Covid-19. The construction industry straddles both jurisdictions with contractors and employees crossing the border in both directions daily. Both industries have emerged from the previous lockdown with excellent records in terms of safety and low incidence of Covid-19. The recent increase in Covid-19 numbers North and South of the border have led to the border counties of Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan being increased to Level 4 and further significant restrictive measures introduced in Northern Ireland. To maintain low numbers of Covid in the construction industry as community transition increases, the representative bodies from North and South are calling on their members to redouble their efforts to ensure employees adhere to their standard operating procedures whilst on site and general health guidelines in their communities. Tom Parlon, Director General, CIF stated: “Construction across the island has performed well so far and we’re asking our members to encourage their employees and their sub-contractors to keep disciplined when it comes to Covid-19 whether they are on site, off-site or on the way to site. Because of the strong ties across the border, we’ve asked our members to engage with Northern Irish contractors operating on their sites to ensure adherence with our SOP. As usual, the response has been positive and our industry, North and South is responding. Such is the importance of keeping Covid-19 out of our sites, we’re finding companies are willing to put in place any measure that’s viewed as helpful.” www.cif.ie Enterprise Ireland Launch New Brexit Readiness Checker T he Brexit Readiness Checker provides businesses with a quick and accessible way to check their readiness and gives guidance on what steps they need to take now, based on their own unique circumstances. To use the tool, companies answer questions on how prepared they are across a range of topics including customs procedures, finance and currency management, movement of people, data regulations and strategic sourcing. Following completion of the form online, companies receive an individual report which provides advice and targeted resources within minutes. A survey of 600 Irish companies carried out by Enterprise Ireland in September indicated that businesses feel less prepared for Brexit than they did in August. This reduced state of readiness appears to be linked to greater uncertainty about what companies need to do to prepare for Brexit – nearly one in four (23%) companies are unsure about the steps they need to take to prepare. This tool will give businesses an individualised report telling them exactly what they need to do to help them get ready. With less than 10 weeks to the 1st January, Enterprise Ireland is urging every company that trades with, from or through the UK, to take the necessary steps to ensure they are Ready for Brexit. Uncertainty around the outcome of EU-UK negotiations remains the main barrier to preparedness for companies. Approximately 82% of respondents indicated that this was hampering their efforts to prepare for their top area of focus, up sharply from 74% in August. https://www.prepareforbrexit.com/brexitreadinesschecker/