Adverse Weather Information

With the onset of winter over the last couple of months, weather conditions have presented us with some significant challenges in providing our services – including travel cancellations, the closure of the Churchill Barriers or slippy road conditions.

The Corporate Leadership Team and I recognise and appreciate the lengths you all go to on a daily basis to ensure we deliver core services to our community.

Your safety – and the safety of those using our services - is of huge importance and we have policies and procedures in place that ensure we can continue to run services but that we keep you safe too.

I’d like to take the time to remind you of some key points:

• If you can’t attend your place of work because of adverse weather, or tidal conditions on the Churchill Barriers, you must inform your manager as soon as you reasonably can. In these circumstances, you will have five options to discuss with them:
  • If your job allows you can work from home.
  • You can take annual leave.
  • You can make up the time lost at a future date, unless the work you do would not allow for this. 
  • If you are participating in the flexi-time scheme you could make up the time using time credits or if you already accrued Time off in Lieu (TOIL)you have the option to use this.
  • As a last resort, you could take unpaid leave.
• If you are a parent or carer and your child’s school closes due to adverse weather, - and you don’t have emergency care arrangements in place - then you should discuss the options above with your line manager.
• These arrangements also apply to staff who are out of Orkney on leave and unable to travel back because of weather conditions/ travel difficulties. If you are out of Orkney on Council business and are delayed any working time lost will be paid.
• The normal requirement for advance notice of an intention to take leave will be suspended in the circumstances described above.
• If you don’t routinely work from home – either because it’s not something that suits you or because of the type of work you do - it may also be possible for exceptional temporary arrangements to be made to allow you to do so. These arrangements must be discussed with your line manager.
• In exceptionally bad weather it may be that some Council facilities will be closed to staff. On days like this you might be asked to report to an alternative work location, be asked to go home early or be asked not to travel to work at all that day.  As the Chief Executive (and in my absence the deputising Corporate Director) I will take such decisions based on the advice of the appropriate Corporate Director and/or Police Scotland.

In these circumstance you will still be paid for that day and you won’t have to take leave or make up any lost working time.

• If you are in the type of job where you provide an essential service with health and safety implications for service users and the public - such as residential care or snow clearance and gritting, as you know it’s a contractual requirement to be at work, despite the weather conditions – and your job falls outwith these provisions.

I have also taken the opportunity to attach some information about winter driving – including our Driving at Work handbook and policy.

In the meantime please take care!

Kind regards

Oliver

Oliver D Reid, Chief Executive