As we continue to monitor developments regarding COVID-19, Civiltech’s top priority is the health and safety of our staff, our families, our clients, and the communities in which we work.

We are also focused on the continuity of serving our clients and providing quality engineering services, within budget and on schedule.  As part of that commitment, we would like to share our actions, policies, and precautions in regard to this crisis.

MITIGATION AND SOCIAL DISTANCING

First and foremost, we recognize our role and responsibility within our community and are following the recommendations of the World Health Organization, CDC, the State of Illinois, and local health agencies. As of today, all Civiltech staff have been encouraged to work remotely, both to accommodate their personal needs in caring for families and to support whole community in social distancing. If a job related task requires a Civiltech employee to be in the office, we have established new health guidelines. In both our Itasca and Chicago offices, staff who need to be on-site are required to stop at a sink and wash their hands before going to their work station. Each time staff leave during the day, they are required to stop at the sink upon re-entry.

We are also encouraging our staff who work on project sites and field offices to work remotely when possible, and when on a job site, they are reminded to practice social distancing. Similar to Itasca and Chicago, the field offices will remain open. However, this staff can choose to complete their work from their vehicle or their home office.

CLIENT SERVICE

Civiltech employs technology that routinely enables our team to work remotely when needed. As part of our preparedness for COVID-19, we had asked our staff to verify that their home workstations are setup and ready to use. That effort proved beneficial as we were easily able to transition to working remotely as an entire company. We believe our technological capabilities and our robust communication tools ensure that our projects and workload will continue smoothly through this uncertain time.

COMMUNICATIONS

We are actively monitoring the guidelines, information, and updates being provided by the World Health Organization, CDC, the State of Illinois, and local health agencies.  We share this information on our internal knowledge sharing platform, The Roundabout.  Also, we have a group texting platform for efficient and expedient emergency communications.

With teams working remotely, we have also set up communications within project team and/or service department structures to ensure that our work continues seamlessly.  Staff are working within their teams to keep each other abreast of their work load, intended accomplishments, and deadlines.

HEALTHY HABITS

As this event has unfolded, we have been reminding our employees to keenly monitor their own health and stay away from the office at the first signs of any symptoms. We are insisting that sick employees remain at home, and we are proactively working with them to determine an appropriate time to return to work.

Beyond our normal office cleaning, we have increased the cleaning of door handles and common areas and are making cleaning supplies available for staff to use in their workstations.

MEETINGS

We are evaluating meetings on an ongoing basis. However, we are encouraging our staff to cancel meetings that may be unnecessary or holding virtual meetings utilizing telecommunication tools.

Our thoughts go out to all of those around the world and in the Chicago area that have been impacted by this crisis. While it is impossible to predict the future of this event or to fully understand its impact, it does not alter Civiltech’s focus on serving our clients and the communities affected by our work.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Jon Vana.