How we helped our customers after an unexploded bomb was discovered near their homes

It was crucial to provide support to impacted customers, and our teams from property services and housing to specialist support teams, such as our community connectors, were all mobilised quickly to help co-ordinate the emergency response.

Once the bomb was detonated and we knew the extent of the damage, a structural engineer was immediately organised to be on site and to start to assess properties. It meant we could start work immediately on assessing each home, ensuring they were structurally sound for customers to return.

“Never underestimate the emotional toll something like this will have on your customers”

When I arrived I experienced a feeling of real shock at the amount of devastation the bomb had caused. The sight of customers being escorted to their homes and coming out with bin bags of personal possessions further highlighted the sense this was a major incident.

There are a number of things we’ve learned since this crisis began, many of which we’ll be taking back to the office and our homes with us and using well after this crisis ends.

Never underestimate the emotional toll something like this will have on your customers.

We were quick to provide emotional support to customers who had experienced trauma from the very moment that the bomb was discovered, right the way through to assessing the damage that had been caused to their homes.

Providing food and shelter is a key focus, but emotional support has to be right up there in terms of priorities. Our teams have been in constant touch with customers, checking how they are and helping them as they moved back into their homes.

Caring about people’s well-being is paramount and that support will continue over the coming weeks and months.

Pulling together an emergency rota to ensure you have adequate cover at the scene is also vital. Being visible on the ground is a source of great reassurance for customers and allowed emergency team members to be recognised quickly.

“Having our pet champions from across the organisation available to help with the temporary rehousing of animals brought widespread relief and comfort to our customers”

It really struck me how agile we are as an organisation. It can be quite a challenge when you are plunged into something as unprecedented as this, but we showed remarkable powers of resilience, flexibility and versatility to respond in an efficient and effective way.

It was also essential to act quickly to support customers’ pets. Having our pet champions from across the organisation available to help with the temporary rehousing of animals brought widespread relief and comfort to our customers. Where this was not possible, we were able to go into customers’ home to feed their pets. All of our work was carried out in a COVID-secure way.

Using the best of our digital technology where it was needed in a virtual working environment was also a huge help in communicating with customers and across our teams and the organisation. We issued a daily update to keep customers updated and utilised our digital channels to communicate key messages.

We’ve had extremely positive feedback from customers about the steps we took to keep them connected throughout.

While there is still much work to do in order to complete the planned programme of works in customers’ homes, my overwhelming emotion is one of pride for the way in which different teams across different regions all came together in a unified way.

It reinforces all of the culture work we are doing as an organisation, where working together in pursuit of customer safety and welfare is one of our top priorities.

Working towards a common purpose brought everyone together. Colleagues didn’t need to be told where to go and what to do, they just all mucked in.

While all of our customers are back in their homes, our focus now is on making the next steps as smooth and straightforward as possible.

James Reseigh, director of neighbourhoods, LiveWest