|
Ardfern Yacht Centre under Lockdown |
AS you are aware the marina, chandlery, workshop
and all facilities at Ardfern have been closed for almost 8 weeks, with the
majority of staff having been placed on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
from late March. This still remains the case at the current time, in line with
Scottish Government guidelines to ‘stay at home’.
Since the lockdown we have been busy ensuring boats
in the yard and on the pontoons and moorings are safe, with checks having been
carried out on a regular basis. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if there is
anything in particular that you would like checking on your vessel, whether
that be checking batteries or de-humidifiers or switching electrical
connections on or off etc.
Along with complying with Government guidelines we
have also been liaising with the UK marine industry and taking advice from
organisations such as our industry body, the British Marine Federation and our
local Mid Argyll Chamber of Commerce, regarding lockdown restrictions and how
we may begin to get back to work safely.
We are now putting measures in place to allow a
small number of staff to return to work in the yard to launch boats and step
masts, once the Scottish Government permits ‘outdoor working’ to proceed, which
we hope will be in the not too distant future.
Our company Health and
Safety risk assessments are being reviewed in order to put additional Covid-19
safety measures in place, firstly for the staff and then for customers in
preparation for when the business can reopen fully again with safe social
distancing measures in place.
We very much look forward
to welcoming you all back to Ardfern and seeing you out on the water once
restrictions in Scotland are lifted.
Andrew & Joanna Ashton
and all the team at Ardfern.