Time is money when you run a business from a commercial premises. And this is especially true for every hour of the day when your doors are closed to paying customers, with the double whammy that you’re still having to pay your overheads.
That’s why business resilience is so crucial, to make sure you minimise business disruption, from whatever cause, that temporarily closes your shop, restaurant or factory.
Potential consequences of neglecting your drains and sewers
There are many reasons why a business might have to suspend operations: industrial action; staff illnesses; even an act of God such as a pandemic.
But if you are forced to close because you lack a maintenance programme or put off critical repairs and then a toilet floods your restaurant floor with sewage or a blocked gutter leads to a damp problem in your rental accommodation, then that’s an own goal.
Not only do you suffer a loss of income and unplanned expense but also the cost of second order issues: maybe a temporary relocation; having to spend time dealing with suppliers, insurers and repair companies, or loss of stock.
The consequence can be even worse for a hospital, care home or school, where potentially vulnerable users are affected.
These scenarios, which aren’t exactly uncommon in the UK, can easily be avoided with a regular maintenance programme in place, and a reliable firm on fast dial that you can call out 24/7 to sort out a problem with minimal disruption and delay.
What the law says
You are responsible for maintaining or repairing any drains inside the boundaries of your property; these are your private drains.
In addition, Health and Safety regulations in the UK place responsibilities on businesses for maintenance and repairs to ensure a safe environment for customers, visitors (for example suppliers) and staff. These include providing suitable sanitation and washing facilities.
Breaches of H&S laws can mean a fine of up to £20,000; putting someone’s life at risk can even lead to a jail sentence.
Drain clearance and repair with minimal mess and disruption at your workplace
Business owners and premises managers fear the potential mess and hassle that might come with maintenance and repair works.
However, at Drain and Sewer Services, we have a variety of tools in our arsenal to deal speedily with a whole range of drain, gutter, sewer and gully clearance jobs, from lorry-mounted suction and jetting units down to a highly portable mini-jetter.
Only recently we deployed our Rioned electric mini-jetter at a local school to clear a drain.
The mini-jetter, with its powerful pump, silent electric motor and integral water supply, can unblock and clean drains from 25 to 100 mm in diameter, so we quickly dealt with the problem with minimal noise or disruption to the students or staff.
No-dig technology
We can also reduce disruption and save time through our no-dig technology. To survey for damage or blocks, we navigate a remote-controlled vehicle carrying a CCTV camera along the pipe, which sends back high-resolution pictures to our trained operators. This saves digging whole lengths of the pipe up, as does our ability to reline a damaged section of pipe or clear a blockage cleanly and in quick time.
Drain and Sewer Services keeps your operation up and running
For more than 50 years Drain and Sewer Services has been employing teams of professionals with the right tools and expertise to get to the root of any drain related problem. With minimal mess and disruption, we’ve been unblocking and repairing drains, culverts and gutters.
Our team of specialist drain engineers work 24 hours a day 7 days a week and are fully equipped to tackle any problem, big or small.
Our expert teams also use the latest technology to inspect and survey drains as part of our regular maintenance service, heading off problems before they cost you money.
For a reliable solution, tailored for your exact business requirements, call 01252 312738 or email info@drainandsewer.co.uk to find out more.