As firms continue to grapple with the challenges of safely resuming operations amid the pandemic, Bureau Veritas recently helped flexible space provider WeWork ensure their health, safety and hygiene measures met the global standards on managing coronavirus risks.
With over 800 locations worldwide including in the US, UK, Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia, WeWork has been working throughout the pandemic to prioritise the health and safety of all members and employees in their spaces.
The steps they took included increased sanitisation, prioritising personal space, behavioural signage, extensive disinfection protocols and enhanced HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) operations.
A fundamental part of this process, designed to give stakeholders added confidence and peace of mind in returning to WeWork’s spaces, was to have these new measures audited and verified independently by world leading testing, inspection and verification firm Bureau Veritas.
As part of its hugely successful ‘Restart Your Business’ service, launched in April, Bureau Veritas partnered with WeWork to audit the company’s health and safety measures, response plans and space modifications to ensure all of its protocols and spaces met global standards and were deemed ‘COVID-Secure.’
As a result of Bureau Veritas’ verification, WeWork was able to successfully reassure its members and employees that their spaces around the world were COVID-secure, with Bureau Veritas providing the company with a statement of assurance.
Karolina Lachi Kolarova, Certification Director at Bureau Veritas, said: “With latest figures from PwC showing that continued homeworking could cause a £15.3bn drop per year in the UK’s GDP, a safe return to offices, when people are able to, is a positive move towards recovery.
“To achieve this, we’ve been working with businesses, including WeWork to introduce and audit robust health, safety and hygiene standards that protect staff and customers from coronavirus transmission. We’re delighted that we’ve played such a crucial role in helping WeWork reassuring its members and employees that their spaces around the world were COVID-secure’.
“We’d invite all our new and existing customers, who are interested in validating their COVID-19 response and safety measures, to get in touch with our expert team and make use of this fantastic service.”
Rafael Perez, Director of Health & Safety, International at WeWork, said: “With employee wellbeing undeniably an essential part of every business's workplace plans, what is also absolutely crucial is that those going into the office know they are doing so in a space that prioritises their safety.
With insights from our members around the globe, we took a holistic approach to implementing precautions and protocols to instil confidence for both our employees and members. Paramount to this was having our health and safety measures, response plans and space modifications independently audited and verified by Bureau Veritas. This partnership underscores that our locations are equipped for the future of work, with spaces that prioritise the wellbeing of our global community.”
