News story

New skills for Peter during covid-19

One of the few people to continue working in the Warrington Offices through the coronavirus pandemic is OneFM security officer Peter Houghton.

Portrait image of Peter Houghton, Security Guard at Hinton House

Peter, taking on new tasks during the pandemic

Peter, a familiar face in Hinton House at Warrington having worked on the loading area checking deliveries to the building for the past 15 years, is now learning new skills during the pandemic.

He said:

When we announced the reduction in numbers allowed into the building in March, I was given a different role of patrolling the buildings and more recently checking passes at one of our turnstiles as we slowly re-introduce staff into Hinton and Allday House.

Even though the building, that can normally house about 2,000 people, was virtually empty in late March and April apart from security, cleaners and occasional visitors, it didn’t feel strange because it’s just like working weekends when it’s also very quiet.

I’ve enjoyed taking on new tasks and learning new skills such as using a work’s computer as my job on the loading bay involves paperwork. However, guidance on computer use has probably not been as straight forward as normal given social distancing rules.

I’ve found that staff coming back into work have fully respected and followed the new instructions that relate to the building and their work area. The noticeable change in Hinton for me is there’s no canteen, and the booth areas are not available for use.

We are slowly re-introducing more people into the building but it’s still very quiet, and I do wonder what will happen further down the line with certain activities - such as deliveries to the loading bay…

Published 21 May 2020