Work Safe 2.0: Principles to Guide Reopen Houston Safely

Published Apr 29, 2020 by A.J. Mistretta

As the Houston region moves to reopen our economy, it is important that we do so safely, sustainability and successfully. To aid companies planning to reopen or expand their operations, the Greater Houston Partnership is sharing principles to help businesses develop plans to protect the health of their employees and customers by reducing the risk of transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

Businesses have a vested interest in getting this reopening right. All businesses should want to keep their employees and customers safe — and feeling safe – as they return to “normal” operations. Get industry-specific guidance, learn more about the Partnership's Houston Work Safe Program and pledge to employ these principles at your company today.

This list of principles has been modified from the Partnership’s original Work Safe principles to reflect evolving federal and state guidance, and this list either meets, exceeds or expands on that guidance.

Work Safe 2.0 Principles

Allow all but essential on-site employees to work from home. While companies may maintain on-site workers to complete specific business tasks, employers should continue to allow all but those necessary employees to work remotely.
Create a safe work environment for all on-site employees.
- Create physical separation. Health officials advise that all individuals should remain at least six feet apart to avoid possible transmission. Employers should establish protocols that allow all on-site employees to maintain a distance of at least six feet while working.
- Close communal spaces. Where possible, employers should discontinue use of any communal spaces such as lunchrooms, breakrooms, meeting rooms and other gathering spaces to avoid unnecessary person-to-person exposure.
- Expand cleaning operations. Companies where workers must remain onsite should increase cleaning protocols of all high-touch and high-traffic areas throughout the day.
Require workers with COVID-19 or flu-like symptoms to stay home. To minimize exposure to other personnel, all workers who are experiencing even mild symptoms (principally fever, dry cough, sneezing) should avoid entering the workplace, report the situation to their supervisor and remain home.
- Companies should consider adjusting paid sick leave (PTO) policies. Employers should remove disincentives from people self-reporting illnesses. It is to a company’s advantage for sick employees to stay home.
Encourage proper hygiene. Employers should provide sufficient hand sanitizing stations, guidelines for proper hand washing and soap at all hand-washing stations to ensure proper hygiene at the workplace.
Apply industry best practices to your reopening and expanding operations. National, state and local trade associations, along with leading companies in most business sectors, have developed robust sector-specific best practices to successfully and safely operate in this environment and have shared these resources online.
Employ virtual meeting technology. To avoid unnecessary exposure, employers should implement online video conferencing and other virtual meeting and messaging tools to conduct meetings. No one should feel the need to meet in person, even if they are in the same physical office.
Create alternate teams. Employers with on-site staff should create alternating teams (i.e. morning/afternoon shifts, day/evening, every other day) so that operations may continue if one team becomes exposed and is required to quarantine.
Restrict on-site access. Employee guests and other visitors should only be allowed access to any office or worksite when absolutely needed. For customer-oriented businesses, customers should be allowed access only provided they follow the safety protocols established by the business.
Encourage employees to observe safe travel guidance. Employers are strongly encouraged to follow the direction of public health officials to guide travel decisions outside of the Houston region. Employees should protect themselves and others during the duration of the trip, including following CDC travel guidelines. Travelers from high-risk areas should consult with their medical provider regarding self-quarantining and self-monitoring measures.
Eliminate crowding. Limit the number of customers or individuals allowed in the business or workplace at one time to allow for social distancing. If possible, utilize markings to ensure safe spacing at all times.
Decrease physical contact. Establish measures to limit interaction between employees and other employees and employees and customers. Utilize contactless solutions.
Require employees and customers to wear personal protective equipment when possible. Face coverings should be worn by employees and customers, especially if it is difficult or impossible to maintain a 6-foot distance. Proper training on wearing and disposing of PPE should be provided to all employees, and the workplace should provide protective equipment for all employees unable to provide their own.
Develop health checks. Create a plan to train employees in responsible health checks using proper techniques and protocols. Utilize temperature checks to monitor the health of employees and send home employees who display symptoms. Employees who have a fever or display symptoms of COVID-19 or flu-like illness should not be allowed to work.
Manage confirmed or suspected work-related cases. Implement a process to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in the workplace in the event an employee tests positive or is exhibiting symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Employers must understand the legal considerations related to managing cases in the workplace, including issues around employee privacy. Employers should also consider supporting efforts to stop community spread by notifying public health agencies of an employee with a confirmed case. For more information on what can be done to manage confirmed or suspected cases in the workplace, click here.
Establish anonymous reporting. To maintain a safe work environment for on-site employees and customers, companies should create an anonymous complaint channel for employees and customers to report unsafe practices or violations of protocol during this COVID-19 period.

Learn more about the Houston Work Safe Program. Get information and resource from the Greater Houston Business Recovery Center.

Updated on August 13, 2020.

Economy Membership

The Greater Houston Partnership celebrates our members making important announcements and sharing news about their operations and impact in our community. Learn more about some of those announcements over the last months below. Business Moves BP partners with Australia-based Worley to collaborate deeper with the company's assets in the U.S. and other regions, focusing on engineering, procurement, construction development and management segments. CLEAR expands enrollment and renewal options by opening seven new locations, including locations in Houston's William P. Hobby International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport. CLEAR now has 20 TSA PreCheck enrollment locations open across the U.S. Enterprise Products Partners LP expects a final investment decision for a major offshore terminal project. Enterprise Products Partners LP received its deepwater port license from the United States Maritime Administration in April. It was the most significant milestone so far in developing the project, according to the company. Equinor has agreed to an acquisition with Canada-based Standard Lithium Ltd. in two lithium project companies in Southwest Arkansas and East Texas, supporting core competencies like subsurface and project execution capabilities. Exxon Mobil closes its $59.5 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources Co. According to Wall Street Journal, it's Exxon's largest deal since acquiring Mobil in 1999. Kids’ Meals breaks ground on a new 50,000-square-foot facility in Spring Branch. The new space will nearly triple the size of its current headquarters. Legacy Community Health has begun construction on its two-story, 40,000 square feet Legacy Pasadena Southmore Clinic. The new clinic is one of two planned for the Houston area with a generous $50 million gift from Houston Methodist, the largest gift in Legacy's history. Memorial Hermann Medical Group expands into New Caney with a new $10 million facility. The site will provide a range of primary care services, including routine and preventative care. PV Hardware USA opens a new component solar manufacturing facility in Fort Bend County. Rice University partners with Université Paris Sciences & Lettres to research contemporary pressing subject matters such as energy and climate; quantum computing and artificial intelligence; global health and medicine; and urban futures. Education Houston Christian University approves a $60 million budget science, engineering and nursing complex. Construction on the Sherry and Jim Smith Engineering, Science and Nursing Complex is set to begin January 2025 and by the fall 2026 semester. Lone Star College approves a $41.7 million expansion project. Lone Star College-Houston North Victory and Lone Star College-Magnolia are projected to be substantially complete by summer 2025. Rice University breaks ground on a new $54.5 million building for the Jones Graduate School of Business. The new 112,000-square-foot building will have state-of-the-art classrooms, modern office spaces, open gathering areas, dining areas and facilities for private events. Health Care Harris Health System breaks ground on a new, $1.6 billion, Level 1 trauma-capable hospital at the Harris Health Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital campus. The 12-story, 1.3 million-square-foot hospital with a rooftop helipad will have 390 private patient rooms with the potential to expand to 450. It aims to provide quality and urgent health care to the underserved and under-resourced communities of northeast Harris County. HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood opens the hospital's new $27 million outpatient surgery department. The facility is designed to accommodate a variety of surgical procedures that do not require an overnight hospital stay. Houston Methodist Cypress Hospital opens four new services just under a year before the hospital is set to hold its grand opening in the first quarter of 2025. Services include cancer, infusion, and breast care services, along with the recent opening of physical therapy and rehabilitation programs. MD Anderson commences a new 12 floor building, spanning 757,000 square feet, in the Texas Medical Center with Chicago-based Perkins&Will as the architect. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Rice University partner for the Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative, concentrating on five areas of research including nanotechnologies and leukemia immunotherapies. Texas Medical Center Accelerator joins Texas-Denmark BioBridge to drive Danish technologies to the American market. For the second year, the Texas Medical Center Innovation and BioInnovation Institute have collaborated to accelerate many Danish companies. Waste Management aims to acquire Illinois-based medical waste company Stericycle Inc. for $7.2 billion. The acquisition will provide regulated medical waste and compliance services as well as secure information-destruction services. Energy Transition A methodology developed by renewable energy pioneer and Energy Committee Member Drax has been validated by DNV, an organization which delivers world-renowned testing, certification and technical advisory services to the energy sector. The new methodology highlights net carbon dioxide removals delivered using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). ExxonMobil has announced a new pilot program and deployed 10 new all-electric pickup trucks to the Permian Basin, which accounts for nearly half of ExxonMobil's total U.S. oil production. Honeywell partners with Weatherford International Ltd. to combine Honeywell's emissions management suite with Weatherford's technology to upstream oil and gas operators a way to access emissions data in near real-time, make business decisions on potential issues and meet regulatory requirements. Innovation BP donates $200,000 to Houston Community College to help develop an electric vehicles safety and mechanical training course. Halliburton introduces a new technology that is designed specifically for geothermal energy applications. The inlet design minimizes power consumption, protects the pump against solids, and tackles scale formation. Honeywell launches the Battery Manufacturing Excellence Platform, or Battery MXP, an artificial intelligence-powered software solution that will improve battery cell yields. Rice University launches its Synthesis X Center to foster the growth of cancer technologies and medications. SynthX and Baylor College of Medicine’s Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center have announced joint awards of grants to promising teams. The University of Houston has been selected to join a $10 million effort to advance biopharmaceutical manufacturing and engineering, developing a mix-and-read antibody measurement system that uses fluorescent materials to determine the amount of antibody present in a sample. Transportation Port of Houston Authority appoints Port Commissioner Thomas Jones, Jr., embarking on a two-year term. Southwest Airlines introduces a 155,000-square-foot facility project at William P. Hobby International Airport, which will include a larger warehouse for its provisioning team, expanded cargo facilities, more space for the company’s ground support equipment maintenance teams and additional training spaces. Sugar Land City Council approves a $3.2 million construction contract to widen University Boulevard and alleviate traffic. If you are a member and want us to help communicate news about your organization, please send a press release or information about the announcement to member.engagement@houston.org and we will share it with our content team for possible inclusion in an upcoming roundup. Learn more about Partnership membership.