July 28, 2020
The emergence of COVID-19 has changed the way we all live and work, not just for the time being but for the foreseeable future. As we progress through these unprecedented times and strive to overcome this pandemic, Brave is committed to putting the safety of our employees and our community above all else.
Back in March, we made the decision, along with countless others, to close our physical office and make the switch to remote work in order to protect our employees and do our part to keep our community and region safe. During that time, our commitment to our customers and our projects never wavered as our employees worked diligently, either from their home offices or at our essential manufacturing customers facilities, to keep projects and new opportunities moving forward despite the overwhelming uncertainties surrounding the impact of the pandemic.
It was through the dedication and diligence of our employees that we were able to keep our business growing during such uncertain and trying times. As we are continually growing even through this pandemic, we wanted to highlight some of the safety precautions we have undertaken to keep our employees safe in the office and onsite at our customer’s facilities.
RETURNING TO THE OFFICE
Construction on our new office space has resumed and is progressing rapidly. The new 12,000sq/ft facility will allow all of our staff, as well as several additional new hires, to return safely to the office with social distancing guidelines and measures in place.
In the meantime, we consulted with numerous levels of government health agencies and guidelines to put safety measures in place that allow us to work in our current office space as safely and as effectively as possible.
PHYSICAL DISTANCING & SCHEDULING
In order to be able to enforce social distancing rules and keep at least 2m of space between persons in our office, we made the decision to split the office into two separate groups based on desk arrangements and rotate through days of in office work and remote work from home.
With this arrangement, group 1 will be in the office 3 days a week Monday through Wednesday and switch to remote work Thursday and Friday, and remain home the following Monday through Wednesday.
This method ensures that everyone gets to keep their own workspace and is able to maintain the recommended 2m of distance from colleagues and that each group gets an equal amount of time working from home.
Additionally, all board rooms and meeting rooms now have a strictly enforced 1 person limit. As a general rule now, we try our best not to hold face to face meetings and instead use Microsoft Teams for meeting and collaborating wherever possible.
If we absolutely must connect in person, social distancing guidelines will be maintained between parties and the meeting must fall in with current federal and provincial guidelines in terms of the number of attendees. For the time being our employees are encouraged to eliminate close contact with others such as handshakes or embracing friends, co-workers, visitors.
When it comes time for lunch and breaks, our employees are encouraged to take their lunch at their desks or outdoors when the weather permits.
ENHANCED CLEANING PROTOCOLS
We have enhanced our cleaning protocols and practices to keep our workplace clean and sanitized as these have been identified to be particularly essential during a pandemic involving an infectious agent.
Our reputable cleaning staff do a thorough deep clean and disinfect every Wednesday evening, when the groups are scheduled to switch from remote to office work, and every Saturday evening as well.
Employees are expected to use the provided disinfectants to wipe down commonly touched surfaces above and beyond company efforts to do all that we can to help to reduce the risk and keep our team safe. This is especially important for things in each individual workspace such as work surfaces, equipment e.g. computer keyboards and mice.
HEALTH SCREENING
Brave is committed to using both passive and active screening of all employees and visitors for signs of COVID-19 symptoms. All employees and visitors, upon entering Brave solution are directed by signage supplied by the Ontario government to conduct a self-assessment for any COVID-19 symptoms. Anyone presenting symptoms is directed to return home and self isolate immediately and contact the WECHU for further instructions and medical attention.
ENCOURAGING PROPER HYGIENE PRACTICES
Upon entering the building hand sanitizer is available for everyone to disinfect before proceeding to their workspace. Signage is posted throughout the office encouraging and educating on proper hygiene practices to abide by such as:
- Cough or sneeze into a tissue and dispose of it in a lined wastebasket whenever possible.
- Cough or sneeze into the bend of an elbow and not your hands.
- Avoid touching your face and eyes.
- Avoid touching frequently touched surfaces with hands or finger tips. Use elbow, knuckle, or a widget whenever possible.
- Frequently sanitize hands after touching surfaces either by washing hands with soap and water (for a minimum of 20 seconds) or alcohol-based (greater than 60% alcohol) hand sanitizer.
We are incredibly proud and thankful that by working together and following our government’s mandates and guidance, that Windsor-Essex succeeded in coming together as a region to do our part to quell the rising tide of COVID-19 cases.
Now as we move forward into Stage-2 of reopening and beyond, we are remain committed to serving our customers with quality engineering and automation solutions and keeping our employees and community safe and thriving.
