COVID Update:

We would like to keep you updated on our precautions and preparation to ensure everyone we work with on a day to day basis, including staff and clients, remain safe and healthy in light of the ever-evolving COVID-19 outbreak. This involves closely monitoring this in real-time based on the advice of the World Health Organisation and New Zealand’s Ministry of Health and adjusting the way that we conduct our business and support both our clients and staff.

Our goal is to do what we can to help protect our people, our clients, and, by extension, our communities. With this in mind:

• We’re taking additional precautions in our work environments to help keep our employees healthy
• We’re evaluating our need to travel
• We have ensured that our technology platforms allow as many of our employees to work remotely as possible and serve our clients flexibly as needed. We will also ensure all staff are accessible by phone and will provide relevant information should the need arise.

Our staff have been asked to remain at home should they experience any symptoms that may indicate COVID-19 infection, or to go home immediately should they start to feel unwell at work.

Similarly, we would ask that if you are experiencing any flu or cold like symptoms, and you are scheduled to visit our office, or would just prefer not to meet face to face, please reach out to your Brown Glassford Director or staff member to make alternative arrangements.

We also take the opportunity to remind you that the Government has announced that anyone arriving in New Zealand from overseas will be forced to self-isolate for 14 days, if you need our assistance during this time please call +64 3 3650 881.

We would like to stress that these policies are a result of abundance of caution rather than any sense of panic.

We would also like to take this opportunity to address any concerns you may have regarding the direct impact to your business and to reassure you that we will continue to deliver high quality and reliable service. We understand that the impact of the virus is still minor, but we feel we should be prepared.

Thank you for your continued trust in our firm, and we look forward to helping you through these times. We will continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 and will adjust course accordingly. If there are any material changes to our practices, we will communicate these with you. 

We look forward to continuing to assist you with our services.

Symptoms of COVID-19

1.1     Symptoms include prolonged headaches, coughing, high temperature (over 38°C) and shortness of breath. You may have other symptoms such as diarrhoea. These symptoms are similar to other illnesses such as a cold or flu and can be quite mild.

2.        Prevention – what should each individual do

2.1     We all need personally to take steps to maintain our own safety both for ourselves and those around us. These measures include:

2.1.1   Coughing or sneezing into a tissue or into your elbow;

2.1.2   Disposal of tissues into a bin or bag immediately after use;

2.1.3   Regular and thorough hand washing (at least 20 seconds with soap) and drying of hands, when arriving at work, before eating food and generally. Remember also wrist watches and jewellery may need to be removed before hand washing and to try not to touch taps or bathroom handles with your hands immediately after washing;

2.1.4   Not touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unclean hands;

2.1.5   Avoiding skin to skin contact with non-family members (e.g. handshakes, kisses, hugs or hongi);

2.1.6   Avoiding close contact with people who are unwell. Close contact is spending more than 15 minutes within 2 metres or 2 hours in the same room;

3.        Prevention – what will Brown Glassford do

3.1     We will work with the building and cleaning teams to provide enhanced sanitisation procedures and facilities during times of increased risk.

3.2     If at any time you feel your safety has or is being compromised please speak to us urgently and we will try to alleviate those fears. If you have any diagnosed respiratory condition, diabetes, kidney condition or any other condition that increases your risk should you contract COVID-19, please let us know so that we can work with you to determine what is appropriate for your protection.

3.3     A register of all visitors to our office will be maintained at reception. If a visitor notifies us later that they have contracted COVID-19 then we will put plans in place for those in close contact to self-isolate.