Dear customers,
With the current threat that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is presenting, we are closely monitoring the situation but also understand the need to continue operating to ensure that we meet the needs of both our customers and our employees. QEI is encouraging employees to take the necessary precautions, as recommended by the CDC, including:
- Regular hand washing
- The use of masks, gloves and eye protection.
- Any staff members with signs or symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19) will be sent home.
QEI will be implementing the below regarding scheduling any in home visits with customers:
- Is anyone in your home currently sick or quarantined?
- Has anyone in your home been in direct contact with anyone with the COVID-19 virus?
- Are there any other risks for COVID-19 at your home we should know about (travel, etc.)?
If they refuse to answer the above:
- Let them know you will be unable to service their home at this time and will follow-up with them after the spread of COVID-19 has subsided.
If they answer is NO to all of the above:
- Go ahead and set up the visit.
- Prepare them that your employees will not be shaking hands with them.
- Ask if for any reason the situation in their home changes relative to any of the above, please let you know in advance of the visit so you can reschedule.
If the answer is YES to any of the above:
- Let them know that in order to maintain the integrity of everyone’s safety you would like to schedule the visit 30 days out from today’s date.
In addition to what QEI Security is doing, our Monitoring Service continues its mission to protect the safety, security, and health of customers. They’re ongoing efforts related to the impact of COVID-19 include:
- Given the life-safety nature of our businesses, we have received special designation from all appropriate authorities that our employees have been designated as “essential employees.” Given that designation, our employees are exempt from any potential government action where the government would restrict travel in some way. In such a case, they will be permitted to travel to and from work.
- We employ an in-house, around the clock team of cleaning staff working to keep our facilities safe and clean. Under normal circumstances, we disinfect building areas with a hospital-grade cleaning solution at least once a day. Out of an abundance of caution, we have now introduced multiple additional cleaning and disinfecting rounds by our staff throughout the day. This includes disinfecting areas throughout the facilities, including but not limited to restrooms, common areas, workstations, and other areas in our workspaces.
- We have a multi-tiered emergency response plan that includes load balancing among our redundant monitoring centers, over-staffing during all shifts to ensure adequate coverage, and monitoring agents who have the tools to monitor your accounts from anywhere. Finally, our Stella customer engagement platform further supports these efforts.
- We have restricted all business-related travel by our employees until further notice and stopped all visitors to our New Jersey and Texas monitoring centers. We are very proud of our facilities and look forward to resuming these tours very soon.
- We have continued detailed employee education on hygiene and safety best-practices and we have an extensive protocol to protect our employees and facilities if any employee believes they may have been exposed or are feeling unwell.
- We have non-monitoring employees in all monitoring locations working from home to reduce the employee count in our facilities and have allowed for increased separation between monitoring agents.
Please contact us directly if you have any questions or concerns.
Best regards,
Chad Sanders
President, QEI Security & Technology