Capt. Ralph Becker-Heins, MD at Safebridge
Safebridge confronts COVID-19 through training
Although Covid 19 is a global calamity, each company will be exposed to it and react to it in a different way. Therefore, Safebridge is just one example out of thousands which all have their own issues and ways forward. It makes a difference, whether you are “analogue” or “digital”, meaning whether your people have to work physically on site or purely work on a PC. We at Safebridge “luckily” are almost completely digital and even more – we are cloud. That allows as to enable around 30 percent of our staff to work from home, with only a skeleton staff manning in the office.
It’s common sense to have our first priority as the health of our staff and their families. However, this is followed by our obligation to look at the economic impact on each of our employees. With offices in Germany and Cyprus, we see different support from the authorities, whether it is for those who have to stay home to look after their children, to care for other dependent persons, or falling under quarantine. But living expense goes on, despite the virus, and for all those breadwinners it is essential that they keep their jobs. That’s the next priority for our Safebridge “family”.
Whereas in Germany the government is quite inaccessible for small or medium size companies, and on top of that the federalist system creates a jumble of options, Cyprus has proved to be straight and close to the base i.e. in the shipping sector. I’m sure each of the CIRM members will be exposed to very specific measures and CIRM can be a forum to bundle our view on things.
