星空传媒

EC Harris bosses this week praised their staff for their response to being yards away from one of the terrorist bomb attacks that hit London last week.

A first aid team from the firm cared for 17 victims of the Tavistock Square bus blast in the reception of the firm鈥檚 headquarters, two doors south of the British Medical Association office, for around two hours after the attack last Thursday morning.

Chief executive Philip Youell said that the emergency services had been impressed with the prompt action taken by EC Harris staff. He said: 鈥淭hey were amazed at what was done (by our staff).

I am particularly proud of how our staff responded.鈥�

Youell said the police had singled out one EC Harris staff member, Sam Orwin, who works in the firm鈥檚 risk management team. Youell said: 鈥淗e (Sam) was organising the response. His background is in the army and he played a key role dealing both with the wounded and with how some of the evidence was collected.鈥�

And Youell鈥檚 praise was backed by chairman Richard Clare. He said: 鈥淚 have nothing but admiration for the response of our staff. We had contingency plans in place for an emergency like this. Trained leaders were there and no-one from EC Harris scarpered and ran away.鈥�

Youell said the firm instigated a business continuity plan in the wake of the attack. This led to telephone calls being redirected to the firm鈥檚 Basingstoke office. EC Harris managed to account for all of its the staff by four pm on Thursday afternoon.

I am particularly proud of how our staff responded

Philip Youell, chief executive, EC Harris

Youell said the office was slowly getting back to some sense of normality this week with 140 staff arriving for work on Monday and 240 people on Tuesday.

He said the firm had made an agreement with the police to screen-off the view from the front of firm鈥檚 offices so as not to see investigators working on the site. He said: 鈥淚t enables us to get back to business.鈥�

Youell said: 鈥淭here will be an impact (on our business) and we are managing that. It鈥檚 important to us in these difficult times that we look after our people and our clients.鈥�

One of the firm鈥檚 partners, Chris Fry, was on the Piccadilly Line trains attacked near King鈥檚 Cross. He was taken to A&E suffering from smoke inhalation but was discharged later on Thursday and returned to work on Monday. Youell said: 鈥淗e鈥檚 still shocked but was well enough to return.鈥�

Clare said a member of the firm鈥檚 financial staff was on the bus directly behind the number 30 bus that exploded. He said: 鈥淚鈥檇 rather not give their name as he is extremely traumatised. We are offering counselling to all of our staff.鈥�