hanseWasser is responsible for municipal drainage and wastewater treatment in Bremen where it operates the municipal sewage network. It thus provides a key municipal service. For this reason, hanseWasser with its 400-strong workforce has to maintain its operational resilience in times of crisis, too.

The company has a long-standing commitment to worker health and safety. It aims to avoid work accidents, improve worker safety and thus reduce sickness-related absenteeism. Every year, it organises training on accident avoidance or healthier nutrition. hanseWasser already began rolling out a crisis management strategy for occupational safety and health back in 2004. 

hanseWasser began expanding its long-standing commitment to occupational health and safety to include crisis management in 2012. Today the company holds annual drills in which it simulates a range of different crisis and emergency scenarios, including serious accidents or a sinking ship. As chance would have it, part of the 2019 simulation involved members of the team suddenly falling ill without warning, rendering them unable to work.

hanseWasser's approach does not require the generation of a new set of parallel structures but leverages the ones the company already has – an approach that was also rolled out at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its crisis management during the pandemic provides for various stages of escalation. Depending on the latest infection rate, the crisis management team reassess the situation and adapts its approach accordingly.

hanseWasser's strategy of using its standard processes and structures for managing critical situations like COVID-19 rather than rolling out a parallel management system has proved its worth.

A crisis demands flexible action. If the situation changes, crisis management measures must be adapted too. Being able to rely on the expertise of a crisis and emergency management team that is integrally embedded in the company proves highly expedient in this regard.