To Our GAL Family,
First, we hope you and your loved ones are weathering these difficult and challenging times in as good a health, mind and spirit as possible. At the same time our hearts and thoughts go out to all those who have been directly and adversely effected by the covid-19 virus.
From the bottom of our hearts, we want to sincerely thank all of those on the front lines in the battle against COVID-19. Their selfless and dedicated commitment is not only providing a critical service to our communities and country but is also an enormous inspiration to all of us to be brave and do everything we possibly can to mitigate the effects of this pandemic.
This includes our own Casey O’Neill who is serving in Baltimore County as a Captain in the Maryland National Guard.
Our role pales in comparison to what they’re doing to bring hope back to all of us.
With that being said, the State of Maryland has deemed us an essential business allowing us to continue to help the community. We feel it is important to show the extensive policies and procedures we have implemented as a responsible service company to ensure the protection of our employees, their families, and our community:
- We are offering remote virtual appointments and meetings to all clients and prospects.
- All employees experiencing ANY of the possible symptoms of COVID-19 as identified by The CDC have been instructed to stay home and call me directly. I will then monitor their situation and decide when they may return to work – they will be paid for all such time off.
- ALL employees will maintain a distance of at least 6’ from all others when at all possible.
- ALL employees will always be wearing masks or bandanas except when driving alone.
- Field employees will wear gloves whenever possible and wash or dispose of regularly.
- All trash, materials, wrappers, etc. will be collected and bagged immediately following use and removed from the site at the end of each day.
- All field crews have been supplied with hand washing and sanitizing materials and directed to use them regularly.
- All vehicles are being sanitized on a regular basis.
- We have been and will continue to make every effort possible to minimize the number of employees in each vehicle.
- We have installed numerous handwashing and sanitation stations throughout our facility.
- We have reduced the manual passing of paperwork, including the use of time clocks to the absolute minimum. We have also limited the handling of mail to one person.
- More than half of our office and sales staff are working remotely, and we have staggered the times that those in the office work to keep contact to a minimum.
- Our offices are being cleaned and sanitized at least once a day by our staff.
- To limit the risks of external contamination of our offices, we have canceled our cleaning service and installed outside drop off stations for all deliveries, which are unpacked and sanitized before entering our office.
Trust me when I say that we’re not taking the severity of this virus lightly.
It is also of the utmost importance to us to do everything we possibly can to maintain the employment of those same hard-working and dedicated employees throughout these uncertain times – with or without government assistance. Some of them have been with us for over 25 years and feel more like family than they do coworkers.
That said, we want you to know that we are HEALTHY, STRONG and OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
So if you are contemplating a landscape installation project or need help with your garden and grounds maintenance – we would greatly appreciate the opportunity to talk to you about it.
I’ll leave you with one thought:
As difficult as it may be at times, remember that we are all in this together and better days are ahead. The sun WILL shine again and that HOPE has not been shut down. On the contrary, stronger connections are being made as we speak.
Stay safe and stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Kevin O’Neill and the entire Great American Landscapes family
