Letter from the CEO
Like many of you, we’re keeping up with the latest news and messaging from our local and national officials on the impact of COVID-19 (“Coronavirus”) in our communities.
New updates are rolling in all the time, and it would be understandable if you’re feeling anxious and perhaps even concerned about your job. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling a bit anxious myself – but I am wholly reassured by the many safety precautions we are taking to ensure your safety and the fact that OSHA actually classifies our work as lower-risk.
Mike Crippen, CEO
OSHA risk zones during pandemics
I want to assure you that we are diligently following all recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization and that, as always, your safety is our top priority.
From supplying Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to training on new products like disinfectants, we are taking every precaution we can to ensure you will be as safe doing your job as ever before. I encourage you to read more about these precautions by checking out our FAQ. →
While we acknowledge and encourage what is being referred to as “social distancing” as a necessary precaution in these uncertain times, I hope you also know that your job is more important now than ever before. It’s a unique function, the work we do in communities across the country—cleaning the spaces folks work, play, eat and sleep—and we are fortunate that our business, and in turn your employment and financial wellbeing, will likely avoid the negative impact this outbreak will have upon many other industries.
With this in mind, I want to thank each and every one of you for what you do each day and night for SOLID and our clients. Whether you realize it or not, every service you deliver has a positive impact on the environment and people in your community. In times like these, your ability to keep calm, clean and carry on is vital to everyone around you, including SOLID and the wider country. Please use the resources in this website to keep yourself and your family informed about what SOLID is doing for you and your safety.
Be aware, but cautious, and be well!
Mike Crippen
CEO, SOLID Surface Care, Inc
Important Information
1: FAQ FOR TECHNICIANS
Frequently Asked Questions – Infection control:
Is it safe to go into the SOLID Office?
Yes. We are taking every precaution to ensure that SOLID offices are the cleanest spaces in your community. Routine cleaning and disinfecting programs are being set-up and SOLID is fortunate to have plenty of cleaning and disinfecting supplies on hand!
How do I know that it’s safe to do my job – what if my coworkers have caught COVID-19?
SOLID, like every business is obliged to tell you if you have been exposed to COVID-19. If we learn that a SOLID employee has tested positive in your office we will inform you.
What about “social distancing” and keeping away from others?
We encourage social distancing as much as possible, but very few people can afford not to work. OSHA has advised low-risk companies like SOLID are to increase social distancing while still maintaining operations. https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdf
We will be rolling out the following protocol to assist employees:
- We will ask sick employees to stay home
- Mandatory hand cleaning when entering and leaving offices.
- For large offices: Staggered SOLID vehicle departures so not everyone is in the office at the same time.
- We will provide gloves, safety glasses and masks or respirators for use around the office or in the vehicle to help you remember to keep your hands away from your face and mouth.
- We will provide voluntary video safety training opportunities for employees to conduct at home if they prefer. Please check the safety & compliance section.
Working at SOLID is not like most other jobs that rely on regular contact with the general public. That’s why OSHA has classified this work as lower-risk. Our employees do not typically use public transport to get to work and our technicians are usually at home during the day resting from the previous night’s work. The buildings we service are completely empty and we have the correct PPE for the job.
Why are we cleaning right now?
The CDC’s advices businesses to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 to frequently clean and disinfect. Clients are asking SOLID to help them stay open for business so that their employees can work and their customers can access services.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html
How is COVID-19 Spread?
The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.
Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Can I get COVID-19 from touching surfaces in buildings?
Yes. It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.
Will I have to clean buildings with known contaminations of those infected by COVID-19?
No. Not if you don’t want to. But the guidance from the CDC is for our clients to clean and disinfect these buildings and SOLID does need employees who are willing and able to deliver these services. Please keep top of mind that if a facility has a confirmed exposure and we intend to clean an infected space the employee will be notified, trained according to OSHA regulations, and paid more compensation for these assignments. Discuss details with your supervisor.
Will there be any extra pay?
Yes. When SOLID’s clients inform us that their facility has had a confirmed case, we will notify you and will provide you with additional PPE which may include a Tyvek suit and a respirator. Employees who work in buildings with this additional PPE will receive an “Infection control pay” of an additional $7 per hour.
Why do we need extra PPE for buildings with confirmed cases?
Suits and respirators are standard protocols used in all infection control environments.
https://www.issa.com/wp-content/uploads/ISSA-GBAC-Tips-Sheet-1_30_2020.pdf
2: Leadership Corner
“
Ensure the complete safety and health of every associate at SOLID. Assist in creating safe and healthy facilities for the clients we serve. Do all in our power to promote health with the communities we serve and be a force for the good of our country and economy. Be a source of calm in the midst of fear. Mike Crippen, CEO 03/17/2020“
I can’t say enough how proud I am of each of you. The way this organization has come together to help each other and to respond to this unprecedented crisis is awe inspiring. I believe we all hope that, in the worst of situations, we will rise to the occasion and be a force for good. You are proving that daily, and I am deeply grateful for your efforts. I know that it is comforting to our clients and to ourselves to see such a great example of calm resolve in the face of fear and uncertainty. It certainly is for me. Please know that what we are doing is helping people and possibly saving lives. We must continue to persevere, and to adapt to the changing landscape. Most of all we must continue to work together to keep ourselves and our clients safe, and to do all in our power to crush this virus and get our country back on track. Mike Crippen, CEO 03/20/20203: Human Resources & Information Guides
External Resource Links
(Links will open documents in a new tab to view)
SOLID Short Term Disability Policy
NCCI Release on COVID19 impact on Workers Compensation
NEWS RELEASE : Blue Cross NC Online Newsroom – Virtual Doctor Visits
4: Safety & Compliance
Facial Hair Guidance for respirator fit tests:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eIRviD4zXK4nLzYiEeZzCjcMgrHvC8Ue/view?usp=sharing
What is a Respirator Fit test?
https://www.concentra.com/resource-center/articles/what-does-a-respirator-fit-test-consist-of/
Medical Questionnaire (sample form, not to be downloaded)
Voluntary Safety Training.
If you would like to voluntarily take additional safety training from your home you may do so here:
Visit www.safetyplusweb.com
Choose “MEMBER LOGIN”
Choose “TRAINING LOGIN”
The Email address is ssc@landingpage.com
The Password is ssc12345
The Identification is YOUR Employee Identification number. This is usually the number you use to clock in at work, but reach out to your Operations Manager if this doesn’t work.
5: Essential Services during “Shelter in Place” orders.
Shelter in Place Orders; Is SOLID an Essential Business?
Mar 23 2020
As more state and local governments weigh “shelter in place” orders in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19, many employees and managers have reached out to ask; what constitutes an “essential” business.
The answers is very clear SOLID is providing an essential service and is protected through the Memorandum on Identification of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During COVID-19 Response from the US Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
In the event of a “shelter in place” order or a state’s COVID-19 mitigation initiative, the distinction between “essential” and “nonessential” is crucial in assessing what options are available to a business.
SOLID will maintain business operations because we have been identified as providing specified activities necessary to preserve life and essential infrastructure on the basis of facilities management.
Be advised that there will be uncertainty and lack of consistency state-to-state as to what is an “essential” business, and how authorities approach these issues. California, Georgia, and Connecticut have each incorporated parts of the CISA, and have embraced the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP). Rather than a federal mandate, the CISA guidance and listing is an advisory blue print for state and local governments; and businesses. It provides crucial guidance on balancing maintenance of critical infrastructure business functions with COVID-19 precautions.
States have taken different approaches on how closely they follow the CISA list. For example, the California Order implements it as its listing of “essential businesses” under that state’s order. Georgia and Connecticut provide listings of additional “essential businesses,”.
Other orders, however, have provided different “essential business” definitions – for example, the Alameda County order that affected San Francisco. Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey have also each defined their own lists of “essential” business among them: “Facilities Support Services, Services to Buildings and Dwellings, Remediation and other waste management services [See Exhibit 1-A].
We feel confident having reviewed with multiple legal counsel that SOLID will not need to close unless specifically ordered. We will continue to run our essential business while minimizing exposure among employees required to perform their essential job functions.
Should for any reason a member of law enforcement or security block a SOLID employee’s ability to access a job site because of a shelter order please contact:
Manny Gomez MHRM SHRM-SCP
SOLID Director of Human Resources
704-650-4178
Challenging the Orders
Challenges can be made through a court system through the support of SOLID Human Resources. No employee should engage in any type of confrontation or conflict with a member of law enforcement or security. Any employee turned away from a job site should provide the legal agent the contact information for SOLID Human Resources. Any employee sent home early will receive minimum duration pay of 4 hours work.
Because of the nature of these shelter orders, the power to issue and enforce such orders are state specific and are based on state constitutional, frameworks. They must be reviewed on a case by case basis by anyone affected that wishes to understand their application, enforcement mechanisms, and judicial review availability and proceedings are available to challenge an order and HR will exercise that right if needed.
In short we have reviewed the federal and state specific shelter and mitigation orders and all have identified our business as “essential”. Companies that supply the operations of these exempted businesses will continue to be considered “essential”, and therefore will continue to operate as normal as possible.
So far, it is our understanding that all of the states we operate in have embraced the company’s status as a first responder under FLSA, and the notion that we intend to continue operating as an essential business. After all we are supplying the cleaning and disinfecting of public facilities. Therefore providing the very mechanism that will eradicate the virus that has afflicted our Cities State of Emergency.
6: Employee Communication
World Health Organization: Using Alcohol-based Hand Sanitizer: