Dear Clients and Colleagues:
With the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), our first priority at Sterling Elevator Consultants is the health, safety and well-being of our employees and customers. We will continue to monitor the spread of the coronavirus as well as continue to follow all protocols and steps given by national and state public health officials.
An overview of the safety measures we are currently taking to protect our employees and customers are given below:
• Keeping up to date with the CDC guidelines and restrictions regarding the coronavirus.
• Scheduling site visits for downtimes at properties to avoid contact with unnecessary numbers of people.
• Wearing complete PPE (personal protective equipment) while on site visits including a facemask and gloves.
• Monitoring our employees and having a strict 14-day quarantine period if someone comes in contact with someone believed to have COVID-19.
• Should one of our employees become symptomatic, we will have a deep cleaning and disinfection of our office, as well as a full 14-day self-quarantine for all employees. We will then contact sites where the employee has been in the last three weeks for contact tracing.
• If an employee becomes symptomatic on a site visit, then we will first assist the employee in leaving the property and getting medical attention for proper testing. The employee will leave in a way to minimize exposure to others on site. We will then contact management of the site, as well as pay for a complete sterilization and cleaning of the areas the affected person has been.
Vertical Transportation Systems (Elevator and Escalators) create a close contact environment that pose potential high health risks to tenants and visitors. Here are the steps we at Sterling recommend to reduce the risk of possible transmission and infection while in close quarters in elevators and escalators:
• Stagger building arrival and departure times for the tenants to avoid groups of people waiting for the elevators. This can be done by staggering traffic flow with predetermined time slots for tenants to arrive and leave, having no more than 10% of the building to arrive in any given interval.
• Proactive approach to car loading configuration and passenger reductions during travel. This proactive step would provide designated sections of the elevator for each passenger.
• Mandate masks in all public areas of the building including elevators and escalators. Provide gloves to passengers before they use the elevators for a protective barrier.
In addition, many new vertical transportation technologies are emerging such as destination dispatching, foot stomp plates and touchless elevator call stations. The team here at Sterling will continue to research emerging technologies in order to serve our clients and provide up to date information.