Working round the clock to power the nation at Easter

9th April 2020 - Grid at work

Keeping the UK’s energy flowing this Easter weekend is as crucial as ever. Whether it’s to allow hospital workers to have hot water or making sure families can cook that Easter Sunday lunch, our team is on the case. Some of our staff will even be sleeping on site, in a special temporary ‘village’ we’ve built at one of our sites in the Midlands.

National Grid’s team will be working round the clock this weekend to help ensure power continues to reach the nation’s homes and hospitals at this critical time. Whether it’s so that hospitals can heat water or to ensure families are able to make that traditional Easter Sunday lunch, we’re here to keep energy flowing.

Sleeping on site

To support this, National Grid has been working on the construction of a new ‘village’ of sleeping pods to house our most critical workers in the Midlands.

A team of 18 people have volunteered to work over the Easter weekend and beyond, and will be living in this temporary village; minimising the risk of them falling ill. Once complete, the village will be able to accommodate up to 68 team members.

Home comforts even away from home

The pods have been carefully developed to create a welcoming environment for the team, with freshly-ironed bed linen, a ‘comfort hamper’ including photo frames to house pictures of their loved ones, snacks and chocolates. There’s even ‘Griddles’ the teddy bear to keep them company.

Sara Habib, Head of Workplace Services explains: “We have a critical role in keeping the country’s power and gas flowing in these challenging times. Our control rooms are the beating heart of our networks, so we’ve been working hard to make sure our teams have everything they need to get the job done and that they and their loved ones are kept safe. It’s been a great effort by the site team to get the sleep pods ready for the Easter weekend, which means we can keep teams separate and minimise the risk of people falling ill.”

Committed to the job

Andy Eagle is a shift manager who will be one of the team members staying on site this weekend. For him it’s tough to be away from family, but he’s committed to his role. “It’s a big sacrifice in terms of being away from our loved ones and families, but it’s one we’re all willing to make to ensure we can help keep the lights on for the country.”

Part of a wider plan to keep things working

The ability to sleep on site is just part of a wide range of tried and tested resilience and security measures we have put in place across the company; including fully operational back-up locations for our control centres and additional training for our engineers, so that they can do multiple roles.

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