We understand that more and more states and/or cities have issued “Stay-in-Place” or “Stay-at-Home” orders in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker issued one of these as well last Friday.
As noted, the Department of Homeland Security has declared the Chemical Sector as “Essential Critical Infrastructure.” Thus, United will remain open for business. United Laboratories provides critical products that help limit the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases as well as products that help keep other vital industries operating. Therefore, all employees are reporting for work as usual in an effort to keep products flowing to the best of our ability to our valued customers.
The obvious exceptions to this are if an employee:
- Is diagnosed with COVID-19;
- Has symptoms of COVID-19 which include fever, cough and shortness of breath;
- Has come into contact with someone who has a confirmed case of COVID-19;
- Cannot work because he or she must provide care to a child/children due to a school or place of care being closed or your caregiver is unavailable due to coronavirus.
In those instances, he or she will be compensated according to United’s Policy Regarding Time Off and COVID-19.
United takes the health and well-being of its employees and customers very seriously. To that end, we are taking the following measures among others to help keep our employees as safe as possible:
- We send sick employees home, regardless of their illness.
- We wipe down all common area door knobs and handrails with United 368 HARD-D-WIPES Hard Surface Disinfectant Wipes.
- We have left a canister of United 368 HARD-D-WIPES Hard Surface Disinfectant Wipes in lunchrooms for use on tables before and after use. However, we encourage employees to dine at their personal workspaces for now.
- We have made available a limited supply of United 151 PHENOFOG Hard Surface Disinfectant available for those individuals who wish to fog their personal workspaces or offices.
- We have propped open all doors throughout the building so that the need to use hands to open them is eliminated.
- We have placed hand sanitizer dispenser cabinets at all building entrances as well as the top and bottom of each staircase.
- We have placed a hand sanitizer dispenser cabinet at the dock receiving door and require all delivery drivers entering the building use them.
- We have placed hand sanitizer bottles throughout building for use by employees as needed.
- When possible, we are keeping outside entrances and dock bay doors open to promote the circulation of fresh air throughout the building.
- We are limiting meetings in confined spaces and opting for teleconferencing instead.
- Effective immediately, we strongly suggest employees communicate from their private workspaces or offices via telephone instead of entering each other’s offices or workspaces.
- For employees who work in the field with customers, we have allowed them to call on and service customers via the telephone when possible and needed.
United’s Executive Management Team meets nearly daily to discuss how best to serve our customers while also protecting our employees during these challenging times. As to the former, our greatest challenge has been to consistently provide disinfectant and hand care products. Our Team has been working urgently and diligently with our suppliers to backfill and fill our supply chain so that we can, in turn, supply those products to our customers on a more immediate and consistent basis. Thank you for your patience relative to this situation. Please note, we have a variety of cleaning products available immediately that will help keep customer facilities clean.
Thank you for your commitment to United. Stay safe, and remember …
“Keep Calm and Wash your Hands”
Daniel E. Young
Chairman and CEO
UNITED LABORATORIES, INC.
320 37th Avenue
St. Charles, IL 60174
