In response to the COVID-19 viral outbreak, RSCS has updated our Business Continuity Plan, which includes requirements for responding to an outbreak of contagious disease. This plan details several measures to protect our workers, minimize business disruptions and respond to worsening conditions as they are identified by Local / Federal Government. Specifically, our plan details the following:
- Personal hygiene measures
- Enhanced cleaning / disinfecting of work areas
- Use of PPE for contamination control
- Increased on-hand inventory of consumables / parts
- Staff training on health & safety precautions, use of cloud-based file storage/sharing systems for remote work, implementation of response plans
- Social distancing, split shifts and remote work schedules
- Safe handling of incoming / outgoing packages
- Travel restrictions
- Quarantine measures and temporary office closures if ordered by Local / Federal Government or if in-company outbreak detected
- Notification to customers / vendors
RSCS plans to minimize the impact of this emerging COVID-19 outbreak through the following measures:
- Defense in depth – Staff in the Business Services Group and Calibration Laboratory are cross trained, health physicists and engineering staff working on projects have a similar knowledge base, pool of available radiological technicians typically exceeds staffing needs, staff substitutions are available in the case of illness.
- Escalating levels of response based on changing conditions
Initial response plan calls for social isolating as much as possible through use of remote work for corporate and projects staff and split shifts for Calibration Laboratory to allow for increased distancing of staff during the work-day.
If conditions worsen, or in-house staff contract the illness, then the next level of response includes isolation of ill staff and quarantine and monitoring of staff who had close contact with ill staff. As the majority of our staff can work remotely, quarantines should have minimal impact on the delivery of services to clients. Calibration Laboratory staff can substitute for each other minimizing the impact of absenteeism on instrument calibration turn times. Staff who work at client sites have substitutes available from our bench of health physicists, engineers and radiological technicians to ensure schedules can be maintained.
If mandatory quarantines, travel bans or other Local / Federal Government orders are imposed, then RSCS will comply as required and will resume projects and calibrations once orders are lifted. While we have no control over this contingency, we commit to supporting our customers through work that can be accomplished remotely as much as possible.
We will continue to monitor this situation closely and will update information on our webpage on our response plans if they should change in the future.