Planning the key to staffing

South Canterbury emergency service leaders credit good planning and contingency plans with helping ensure the provision of uninterrupted services throughout the pandemic.

New Zealand Police Aoraki area commander Inspector Dave Gaskin said Covid-19 had impacted on his organisation as much as any other, and like many others – planning had been the key to getting through potential staffing shortages.

‘‘In South Canterbury we have been fortunate to only have small groups away at a time and through planning and rostering have been able to ensure we continue to deliver the service the South Canterbury community expect and deserve,’’ Gaskin said.

‘‘As a result of this planning we have been able to ensure the response services have been generally unaffected. We have also supported other operations around the country, such as the protest at parliament.’’

Gaskin said police had followed government advice and rigorous hygiene practices to help reduce the impact of the virus, and as a result most of the staff who have become infected have not picked the virus up from their workplace.

‘‘Our pandemic response has demonstrated that with good leadership and excellent staff anything can be achieved.

‘‘One thing that we are aware of is that this pandemic is not over, and we will need to be flexible to be able to meet any challenge that comes our way.’’

Gaskin added that the closing of the international borders and the drop in the number of tourists had resulted in a significant drop in the number of vehicles on South Canterbury roads.

‘‘This is especially true in the highdensity tourist routes of State Highway 8 through the Mackenzie Basin,’’ he said.

‘‘Interestingly, although the numbers of calls received reporting poor driving have dropped considerably it has not been mirrored by a similar drop in the number of vehicle crashes.

‘‘The number of people who died in vehicle crashes remains at an unacceptably high number, which highlights that the perception about international drivers is unfair.’’

Fire and Emergency New Zealand Mid-South Canterbury district manager Rob Hands said operational decisions to maintain capacity and protect people from the impacts of Omicron are made at a local level.

‘‘Brigades across the country have adopted this approach since the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Firefighters, career and volunteer, are still responding to all communities in South Canterbury.

‘‘While we do have staff across the area who have Covid, or are household contacts, all South Canterbury fire stations are operating and responding to emergencies as normal.’’