How One UG2 Team Managed the Demands of COVID-19: Q&A with Madeline Costas, Safety & Quality Control Manager
Madeline Costas and her team were already making “just in case” safety preparations well before COVID-19 began proliferating across the US. That planning paid off ― and factors like her team’s access to expertise and their willingness to continuously refine protocols proved critical to their success in keeping UG2 employees, their customers and end-users safe.
UG2: How have you had to adapt over the past year?
MC: Our experience was like what other UG2 teams experienced. We were planning our response with our director before it was clear that COVID-19 would become an issue, going through the information we had and thinking strategically about what to do.
When the threat became real, we constantly updated protocols based on the CDC recommendations, our customer’s internal requirements, and strategies shared by other customers and experts. Every customer has different protocols based on their specific needs, and the guidance was constantly changing so we updated our protocols continuously.
Training was a big part of keeping everyone safe. People needed to understand the seriousness of the threat and the reasoning behind every decision. Sharing that information helped people to manage their fears and make better decisions, and to come to us with questions and concerns.
UG2: What are some examples of changes you made?
MC: The guidance around quarantine changed constantly, and that was a big one for us to keep track of. At one point, the guidance was that you had to quarantine if you traveled more than 150 miles. That is just the size of our county.
We needed to determine where people would go to have their meals and distance safely. We have a large Latino community who love sharing food and conversation on breaks. That was a huge change for everyone. And the virus impacted people’s commute – people who were used to carpooling had to think about limiting exposure and the possibility they’d have to quarantine.
We had to space out our morning health checks since that was when people would pick up their keys, PPE and supplies to do their safety checks. We staggered arrivals by five minutes, marked the floor at six-foot intervals and asked employees to stay in their cars until supervisors were ready for them. Those morning health and safety check-ins became an important time to share information and updates. That was a very positive experience because we could observe how people were following through with the new protocols. Everyone was very committed.
We developed small group trainings around the CDC recommendations.. Due to the small capacity limits, we had to hold the trainings over and over for both day and night staff until everyone was trained. The trainings covered information from when to test if you might have been exposed to which products were COVID approved and the dwell time needed to kill the virus. We tried to present the information in ways that were simple to process, and we even had our employees take a short quiz to be sure they were paying attention and that they understood.
It helped that the CDC resources were available in different languages. It’s so important that people understand the “why” behind the processes and protocols. People had very good questions that were helpful for us to hear and research.
UG2: How did you plan for building closures and strategize around making the process safe?
MC: We continued to encourage social distancing, and asked that employees refrain from eating lunch together, that if they stopped to have a conversation with someone, to make sure to stay six feet apart.
Having adequate supplies was important too. Soap, water and PPE, replenishing wipes and supplies were always available and we made sure employees were always using face coverings.
Now things are beginning to open up again. Everyone’s feeling very positive about it. We’re doing top-to-bottom cleanings to prepare buildings for reopening, and we will continue with our advanced cleaning protocols.
We have to play it safe, always ― no shortcuts.