COVID-19 | Tuesday March 17th, 2020 – With the recent declarations of emergency and shelter-in-place orders for our customers and employees across the western United States APT is responding with a calm, reasoned response. Therefore, we are doing our best to make responsible decisions guided by public health agencies and take positive action to support our employees and our customers.
Our priority is to protect health and safety first. COVID-19 is not a drill.
CDC Guidance | COVID-19
If you are NOT sick, you do not need to wear a facemask unless you are caring for someone who is sick (and they are not able to wear a facemask). Facemasks are in short supply and they should be saved for caregivers.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html
- Prepare for possible increased numbers of employee absences due to illness in employees and their family members, dismissals of early childhood programs and K-12 schools due to high levels of absenteeism or illness:
- Employers should plan to monitor and respond to absenteeism at the workplace. Implement plans to continue your essential business functions in case you experience higher than usual absenteeism.
- Cross-train personnel to perform essential functions so that the workplace is able to operate even if key staff members are absent.
- Assess your essential functions and the reliance that others and the community have on your services or products. Be prepared to change your business practices if needed to maintain critical operations (e.g., identify alternative suppliers, prioritize customers, or temporarily suspend some of your operations if needed).
OSHA Guidance
Below is guidance from OSHA for workers.
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/hazardrecognition.html#sources
Workers Who May Have Exposure Risk
Despite the low risk of exposure in most job sectors, some workers in the United States may have exposure infectious people. For instance, these include travelers who contracted COVID-19 abroad. Furthermore, workers with increased exposure risk include those involved in:
- Healthcare (including pre-hospital and medical transport workers, healthcare providers, clinical laboratory personnel, and support staff).
- Deathcare (including coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors).
- Airline operations.
- Waste management.
- Travel to areas, including parts of China, where the virus is spreading.
Identifying Potential Sources of Exposure
OSHA standards, including those for personal protective equipment (PPE, 29 CFR 1910.132) and respiratory protection (29 CFR 1910.134), require employers to assess the hazards to which their workers may be exposed.
In assessing potential hazards, employers should consider whether or not their workers may encounter someone infected with COVID-19 in the course of their duties. Employers should also determine if workers could be exposed to environments (e.g., worksites) or materials (e.g., laboratory samples, waste) contaminated with the virus.
Depending on the work setting, employers may also rely on identification of sick individuals who have signs, symptoms, and/or a history of travel to COVID-19-affected areas that indicate potential infection with the virus. This response is in order to help further identify exposure risks for workers and implement appropriate control measures.
The Control and Prevention page provides guidance for controlling exposures among workers with risk.
Additional Information
The CDC provides information about risk assessment for COVID-19.
APT can help customers respond to this pandemic through our essential services.
These services include:
- Electrical system monitoring and control as a ‘force multiplier’ for your operations crew. As well as, analytical reports for cost, reliability, and quality of service.
- Alarm and Event remote Notification for Operations and Management via email and text.
- Incident response visual documentation of Sequence of Events to determine what happened, where, and how to respond.
- Repair and upgrades of critical instrumentation and equipment to maintain situational awareness.
- Training and staff augmentation of overwhelmed teams during this ongoing pandemic.
If you need help with your critical business, contact APT and we’ll get started right away.