Backed up toilets and pipe bursts don’t listen to government mandated stay-at-home orders. This has kept plumbers working through the coronavirus pandemic. While plumbers are accustomed to working in unsavory conditions, a viral outbreak requires plumbing companies to strengthen health and safety practices to keep both their employees and customers safe. Here are a few ways Los Angeles area plumbers T-Top Plumbing are doing just that through this unprecedented time.
Making Our Crew & Our Customers Comfortable
Before we head out to a customer’s home, we have a conversation with our customer about the health and safety protocols they can expect from our crew. For the safety of our employees, we must also ask the customer if they or anyone in their home has had a fever, flu-like symptoms, or been exposed to anyone with COVID-19.
Practice Physical Distancing
We make it a point to keep at least six feet away from each other and our customers. We ask that our customers also adhere to this physical distancing. We understand that some customers like to watch us work. We just ask that you maintain a safe distance as a precaution to make sure we all stay healthy. This is especially important in our line of work since we customarily work in the homes of seniors and other vulnerable or high-risk populations.
Strong Sanitation Practices
Hard working plumbers get their hands dirty. But hand-washing is absolutely critical right now. The CDC recommends the washing of the hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Our plumbers do this before they step foot in your home – even when returning from a run out to the truck, whenever they touch shared tools, and any time they cough, sneeze, or blow their nose. If hand-washing isn’t an option, hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol is used.
Good plumbing companies already have diligent tool disinfection and cleaning protocols in place. After all, we work with plumbing augers, snakes, and other tools and personal protective equipment (PPE) that harmful bacteria from drains and sewers could contaminate.
In the wake of this pandemic, we clean our tools with mild soap, a clean damp cloth, and diluted bleach or alcohol wipes if these solvents aren’t harmful to the plastics or insulated parts of these tools.
MONITOR EMPLOYEES FOR SYMPTOMS
Every member of our crew does a morning temperature check. Any employee with a fever or complaining of any cough, shortness of breath, or flu-like symptoms is required to stay home and self-quarantine for 14 days.
If this employee has recently interacted with other members of our crew, those crew members will be notified while confidentiality is adhered to in compliance to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
We also expect our crew members to be forthcoming about anyone in their household either being ill or potentially exposed to COVID-19.
These are just a few of the guidelines T-Top Plumbing has put in place to help protect our employees and customers from COVID-19. We care very much about our workers, our customers, and the communities we serve. Contact us today if you’re in need of any plumbing services in the Los Angeles area.
