The importance of crew safety and a call for questions Email
Wednesday, April 01, 2020 08:30 AM

A strong reminder it is critical that our members are strictly following CDC and OSHA safety protocols around the COVID-19 outbreak and distancing. This is a concern not only for the safety and health of landscape employees but for the reputation of our industry that they are following social distancing guidelines.

While ALCC has provided information that supports the landscape industry as an essential service and a critical business that may continue to operate despite the stay-at-home order for Colorado, it is up to individual landscape companies to determine whether their services actually qualify as essential.

The option to stay at home and quarantine is self-selecting—at both the company level and the individual level. Special circumstances that may apply to employees who feel that they are high risk or otherwise unable to continue work as we try to slow the spread of the virus. We urge you to communicate with employees and recognize special circumstances that prevent them from working during this time. That decision must be made between the employer and employee with respect to the employee’s concerns.

For those businesses which qualify as essential services, it is crucial that companies rigidly follow the OSHA and CDC guidelines for safety and sanitation. This includes handwashing and sanitizing, social distancing in the field, and not grouping employees on the job site or in vehicles.
Please practice proper distancing in transportation. We would recommend that employees take separate transportation if at all possible. A vehicle filled with employees is unsafe in the current environment and presents the landscape industry in a poor light. This could result in clients and the general public challenging whether we are being safe and following the law.

Now more than ever, it is important that we represent the landscape industry in the field with professionalism, courtesy, and a concern for safety and public health.

I invite you to share with us your experiences regarding business practices during the pandemic. Tell us what questions you have or what you’ve encountered with regards to loans, business relief, or HR issues around COVID-19. ALCC will try to address those issues in upcoming communications. Submit your questions or observations via this form.

Warm regards,
John
John McMahon | Chief Executive Officer
Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado
Please note: This message is not intended as legal advice. ALCC is not able to provide a legally binding interpretation of the law.

Follow the latest news on our blog or at www.alcc.com/covid.

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