Carter Intralogistics Blog

COVID-19 Precautions July 2021 Update

On Thursday, July 1, 2021, Carter Intralogistics stopped requiring face masks to be worn inside their facilities. Fully vaccinated employees and visitors are no longer required to wear a face covering inside any of the Carter Intralogistics facilities. The decision was made after reviewing the updated COVID-19 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and state mandates.

Carter Intralogistics strongly recommends those not vaccinated, in at-risk health populations, or who are not able to socially distance themselves in their normal course of work, to continue to wear their masks. However, wearing a face covering inside is now only voluntary.

Both companies will continue to recommend employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine. For those who wanted to get the vaccine, Carter Intralogistics allowed employees to use additional paid time off (PTO) to either receive or recover from their vaccines. The option to use the additional PTO ended on Wednesday, June 30. If employees are still interested in getting the vaccine and need help scheduling an appointment, they should contact their local HR.

As summer continues, we want to remind everyone of additional precautions and updates for how we will to continue to manage COVID-19 inside our facilities. Please remember that the situation continues to be fluid with updates from the CDC and OSHA. We will continue to monitor and provide new guidance as it becomes available.

Where appropriate, Carter Intralogistics has implemented the items below per the CDC and OSHA recommendations within our facilities:

Symptom Reporting:

• Anyone showing COVID-19-like symptoms should be referred to HR, or Jennifer Gogo, Safety Director. The individual should be sent for a test and quarantine until confirmation of a negative test or not showing symptoms after 10 days of quarantine, whichever is sooner.

Hygiene:

• We will continue to recommend frequent and thorough hand washing, by providing workers, customers, and visitors with a place to wash their hands, use hand sanitizer, or use alcohol-based hand rubs containing at least 60% alcohol in shared spaces (time clocks, break areas, etc). We continue to review sources to purchase additional hand sanitizer and wipes, so that we can provide them in shared spaces, and appreciate patience while we work to find active suppliers for some of these high demand items. We also encourage employees to bring their own hand sanitizer if they choose to do so.
• We will continue to remind everyone to observe respiratory etiquette, including covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue or elbow.
• We want to remind everyone to put tissues in trash bins which the cleaning staff empties daily. Please do not leave tissues laying around on desks, or shared work areas.

Social Distancing:

• We will continue to review desk areas to ensure that employees can comfortably work within the six feet social distancing guidelines wherever possible. We are monitoring our shared areas for any concerns of social distancing, as well as encouraging social distancing within assembly, shipping, and welding workstations within the plants.
• We want to remind everyone to limit use of conference rooms for meetings- please ensure that you can stagger seating for meetings to keep with social distancing guidelines, and to wipe down the tables after any meetings with provided cleaning products in these shared spaces. Please also remember to help with this in break areas where possible as well. Continue to use Teams video conferencing for meetings, where possible, to limit in-person contact in shared spaces.
• We would like to ask everyone additionally to be respectful of co-workers’ desks, cubicles, and offices as well as shared tools and equipment. Refrain from using co-worker’s phones, desks, tools, or offices whenever possible. When meeting in offices, be respectful of keeping a distance between employees, and be respectful of maintaining safe distances when having discussions in the cubicles in each facility as well. (Stand outside of cubicles and offices when this makes sense and closing a door is not required.)

Health Monitoring:

• Continuing to monitor attendance in our facilities daily and track through our internal COVID-tracker app, as well as monitoring reporting of any symptoms that sick employees may have, and recommending that they call Teladoc, and seek a test if they have any flu/COVID like symptoms before returning to work. We are continuing to evaluate symptoms for quarantine of up to 14 days where necessary, and review individuals’ eligibility for the new ESL and EFSL, or EFMLA leave options related to COVID-19 as well if they need to be off work due to their own personal health condition, care of a COVID positive relative, or for COVID-19 related childcare.
• We may still require temperature checks for any teams that we feel may have come in contact with a local case of COVID-19.

Cleaning Services:

• We are also maintaining regular housekeeping practices, including daily cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces, equipment, and other elements of the work environment by our cleaning staff in both Savannah locations and Lubbock. We have asked that our cleaning staff ensure that they are using cleaning chemicals that meet the OSHA and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved disinfectant labels with claims against emerging viral pathogens. Products with EPA-approved emerging viral pathogens claims are expected to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 based on data for harder to kill viruses. We are also following the manufacturer’s instructions for use of all cleaning and disinfection products (e.g., concentration, application method and contact time, PPE) whenever possible. We continue to stay in contact with our cleaning staff to address any areas of concern including break areas, restrooms, and kitchens, doorknobs, railings, or other shared spaces.

Travel:

• We want to encourage everyone to be safe when traveling, and ensure you are driving when possible, or taking precautions when flying and having in person meetings, and following quarantine guidelines, and approval process for any potential international travel, or travel into known COVID-19 hotspots.

Please continue to help take accountability for keeping healthy, following precautions inside our facilities, and helping to try and prevent the spread of COVID-19 by following the above practices while working.