Keeping Families Safe While Moving

Written By

Machaela Casey

Protecting you and your family while moving is a serious priority at the Westerberg companies.  By keeping your family safe, we are also protecting our families.  In early March our corporate offices in Illinois directed that all of our branch offices and corporate headquarters have staff begin working from home.  This came together amazingly fast.  Our IT department had everyone provided with the equipment needed to work from home and operating within 2 weeks, showing how serious our focus was on protecting our workforce.

Employee Training

Our dispatchers and warehouse personnel are critical to be present at the facilities to operate truck scales and storage warehouse facilities.  All crews and essential on site staff were trained to take their temperature regularly, watch for the ever changing list of symptoms, and stay home if they felt sick.  The branch offices are equipped with no touch thermometers to screen anyone going to a residence from our office.  A detailed chain of contact was established to notify any of our corporate accounts or transferring families of any staff who becomes symptomatic or tests positive.

CDC Guidance

We looked to the CDC for guidance on both preventing person to person spread as well as from surface contamination.  Our suggested Professional Van Operators have a standard toolkit including: Disposable face masks, hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, antibacterial hand soap, paper towels, disinfectant spray for cleaning truck.  The Westerberg organization was fortunate to have been able to provide some of the equipment that would be needed.  Initially we were including disposable Nitrile gloves and safety glasses.  As our best practice evolved they were eliminated.  The safety glasses seemed to encourage more face touching trying to keep them in place and the gloves were too cumbersome in working with tape.  For our situation it was more logical to encourage more frequent hand washing.  Most customers are very happy to provide access to a sink and water.  Some locations, for instance self-storage loads, where hand washing facilities are not available, we are using hand wipes and sanitizer.

Safety Protocol at Residence

The truck cabs and equipment like electronic inventory tablets are being sanitized at the beginning and end of each day.  In addition, we are wiping doorknobs, elevator buttons, handrails.  Those common touchpoints both before and at the end of each job with disinfectant. Wearing a facemask will help to slow the spread of the virus but it won’t stop it.  Our crew leaders are working with customers to arrange an area of the home where the family can all stay together while our packers and loaders are in the rest of the home.  Always trying to maintain at least 6 feet of social distance.  Limiting in person interaction is going to be our biggest defense in the keeping everyone safe.

Ever Changing Environment

Scientists across the globe are studying and releasing new information about the COVID-19 virus.  We are continually updating our best practices in keeping both our and your families safe during the moving process.