On Monday, the State of Ohio issued operating guidelines for businesses and revised them on Wednesday. As an essential business, we have been able to continue operating while the Ohio and Indiana Stay At Home orders have been in effect. We need to comply with these new guidelines in order to continue to remain open. Fortunately, these guidelines are very similar to the conditions that we have been operating under and also meet the guidelines of the Indiana Stay At Home order.
Face Coverings
The biggest change from what we have been doing is the requirement for all employees to wear a face covering. Effective Monday, May 4th, all employees not working from home will be required to wear a face covering while working. This does not mean an N-95 respirator or a surgical mask, which need to be reserved for health professionals and first responders. A simple cloth covering like a homemade mask, scarf, bandanna or balaclava are all acceptable. We have a limited number of masks that will be provided to employees that arrive to work on Monday without one. After Monday, if an employee arrives to work without a mask, that employee will not be permitted to work until he/she returns with a mask. Face coverings can be removed when working by yourself in your normal workspace, but must be worn when moving around the office, talking with coworkers or working with customers.
Working from home/returning to the office
If you are currently working from home, your manager will be meeting with you (or already has) to come up with a plan for you to continue working from home or to return to the office. For those that are working in the office, employee workspaces should be 6’ apart. This may require some employees to move to a different workspace.
OPE locations
The following are being implemented at all OPE locations this week:
- Plexiglass shields at all counters
- Floor decals to space customers waiting at all counters 6’ apart
- Signage at each front door instructing customers to maintain 6’ distance from others
We will be allowing customers back into these locations on Friday, May 1st and we will be open on Saturday, May 2nd as well. Customers will be requested, but not required, to wear a mask when entering the store and we will provide signage to notify them that masks are appreciated. We will not be providing disposable masks to customers at this time. We will continue to provide curbside service for customers that do not wish to enter the store.
Other requirements/recommendations
Employees must take their temperature before coming to work.
Employees who are symptomatic must stay home. Here is a link to symptoms that the CDC has identified: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html
- Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer regularly.
- All high touch surfaces will be cleaned regularly. We are requesting that our cleaning services focus on disinfection of surfaces.
- Avoid touching your face.
- Sneeze or cough into a tissue or the inside of your elbow.
We feel that by doing all of the above, we can provide a safe place to work and begin the process of returning to some level of normalcy.
Thanks for all you are doing to keep the business operating while keeping ourselves, our families and our customers safe.