COVID-19: A JOURNEY FROM A
FIRE & SAFETY TRAINING COLLEGE PERSPECTIVE The Oil and Gas and the Hospitality industry were amongst those industries that were hit hardest by the impact of Covid-19 outbreak. As a result, supporting industries such as safety training centres, were also faced with unprecedented difficulties and severe challenges. In March, when the Covid-19 outbreak became apparent and the pandemic went global, our overseas team were half way through delivering an 8 week advanced firefighting training programme in Kuwait. The world suddenly came to a standstill. In the midst of the unprecedented situation, our first priority was to come up with a plan to quickly bring back our team in Kuwait safely home to their families. Who would have thought that seven months down the line the planned training would still be on hold? Meanwhile, also in March, our local teams were busy in keeping up with back to back classroom and practical training on our training grounds. Such training was also abruptly
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suspended. Many of our clients were forced to cancel and postpone plans for training and several professionals within the industry were being laid off. The change presented severe uncertainty and challenges requiring strong mental resilience.
respond to the many concerns that were being raised by our clients. As the virus spread across the country and the globe, the management at ISTC have teamed up with our business partners and experts to maintain the morale of our employees and our stakeholders.
THE PANDEMIC HAS FORCED OUR PRIORITIES TO CHANGE
AS AN INTERNATIONAL FIRE AND SAFETY PROVIDER, OUR GOAL IS ALWAYS SAFETY FIRST
Faced with unparalleled operational challenges, teams were required to make do with the bare minimum. Sales and business development came up with plans to minimise business disruptions whilst operations had the challenge to quickly plan and implement new safety protocols to minimise the risk of virus spread. Our front desk team was always available to
As a fire and safety training centre our delegates and students are mostly frontline personnel who by virtue intervene in emergency situations, save lives or prevent incidents from happening as part of their daily routine. Unlike a tornado or other emergencies, Covid-19, lingers, leaving us all uncertain
