Creating a thorough winter maintenance plan is essential for all businesses. It not only helps to keep anyone on your grounds safe but also helps to reduce the impact which cold weather can have. If you do not take the time to create a solid winter maintenance plan then it could cost your business customers, time and money in the long term.
If you are looking for a few tips on setting your own plan up to stay operational over winter, the below should help.
A key factor for any winter maintenance plan is to assign someone to be in charge of it. Whether it is the head groundsman or a senior managerial figure, someone should be accountable for making sure what is in the plan happens. Beyond this, it can also help to assign specific tasks to individual team members. Using Key Performance Indicators can help here to set out what tasks each person has and make sure they are on track to complete them. The major two tasks to be looked after will be gritting paths and clearing snow.
When drawing up the initial plan, make sure to think about which areas may get slippy or dangerous in adverse conditions so you can focus on them. There should also be clear processes in place for team members to feedback on issues or problems they come across when gritting or moving snow.
Once you have identified which areas may need gritting or snow clearing then make sure you have the right tools to achieve this. Ensure there are enough grit and salt bins on your grounds with the relevant supplies inside for the whole winter period. In addition, make sure to check and repair any of the gritting or snow clearing equipment you will be using. If you need any essential equipment, make sure to buy it well in advance.
Although you can handle all the gritting and snow clearing in-house, many businesses now will make outsourcing this task a central part of their whole plan. This not only saves you employing staff to grit paths and clear snow but ensures that you get expert help to stay operational over winter. Outsourcing in this way also means your business benefits from the latest innovative gritting methods and snow clearance tools. External providers will also usually be able to provide maintenance care out of hours where your own staff may not.
If you have identified using an external provider as key to your winter maintenance plan, then let Weedfree help. We are a family-run business with many years' experience of maintaining grounds during the winter months. Call today for more details on how we can use our gritting and snow clearance services to help you.