Welcome to our new series called Chamber Conversations: Trusted Advice in Challenging Times. Chamber Conversations are direct, simple conversations between the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce and experts in various industries for the purpose of providing valuable information and insight to our community.
Our guest is Jason Lee of Lee Building Maintenance discussing with us sanitation challenges and situations associated with the COVID-19 pandemic as we begin to prepare moving back into our workspaces.
In this interview Jason discusses…
- Why it’s important to utilize professional cleaning teams
- Best practices for keeping the workplace safe during COVID-19
- The importance of chemical dwell times
- The strength of our Frederick community
- The importance of the Chamber
Rick: Welcome to Chamber Conversations: Trusted Advice in Trying Times. Today’s guest is Jason Lee.
Jason is a lifelong Frederick resident and he’s a man who understands the concept of giving back in a way very few others do. From his faith community, to his leadership service in the morning Rotary, to his past chairmanship and membership on the Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee. He also serves on the Workforce Services Board and the Business Council of Interfaith Housing at Hood College and also serves on an International Trade Association.
Jason launched his building maintenance company after helping to build another very successful professional cleaning services company here in Frederick County and his clients include our leading healthcare companies, technology companies, big nonprofits as well as small businesses of all types. It’s a real pleasure and an honor to introduce today Mr. Jason Lee.
Jason: Thank you Rick, for having me for today’s conversation.
Rick: Let’s talk a little bit about why, as an industry leader, you think it’s important moving forward to have a professionally trained team come in and do office cleaning
Jason: Again, thank you for having me. I wanna start off by saying thank you as well to all our first responders out there who are putting their lives on the line right now.
This is a great question. I refer to our team as second responders. We are the ones who come in and clean up office facilities, professional manufacturing or medical. I think it’s important to have a certified trained cleaning company to come to your space because man, things have just changed. COVID-19 is a virus that is airborne, but as it gets on surfaces there are EPA products that have to be used to be able to clean those surfaces. I think it’s super important to have the training from the chemical manufacturing companies, we need to have the advice from those companies to pass down as we use it. Even down to knowing the correct ways to use PPE (personal protection equipment), having all that knowledge at the end of the day is so crucial, just to make sure everyone can be safe.
Rick: Before we had to shut down buildings and send people away, Lee Building Maintenance hosted a webinar for members about overall what it takes to make a workplace safe. We discussed best practices and products, and from your perspective, you’re sending out your most treasured resource, the people who work for you, in situations that could be dangerous.
Could you talk a little bit about what those best practices are for employers who are just now starting to think about bringing people back to work and have some of that knowledge available for them?
Jason: One of the key things here is having a true EPA distance, I think as we talk from a commercial standpoint, or even residential and housing, because I know the viewers on this video are vast. When you go to the store to get your chemicals and cleaning supplies to make sure you look at the back of your chemical products. There is a claim to the virus and what that means is with many of the chemicals that are approved there is a ‘dwell time.’ Dwell time is important with any product used to spray a surface because it’s going to tell you how long that product has to stay wet on the surface until it actually kills the virus.
As people are setting up and going back to the workplace, everyone is going to have to wear masks for the foreseeable future. Procedures with temperature checks can be put into place as well. Some of our manufacturing plants already have temperature checks, where you have to pass a specific temperature grade in order to get into work. You also have to look at social distancing spaces within your office, and I think having a professional company come in as well to do the cleaning is a good practice.
You also have to talk about small things that you can do on your own. For example, washing hands is so important. Right now trying to find hand sanitizer is so difficult, so it really does go back to consistent old fashioned hand washing for at least 20 seconds.
Some other things to consider are how your meetings are set up, thinking about how your conference room is used, making sure it’s disinfected properly after each use. There are things you can do with your staff so that you can save money as well, whether it’s with wipes or proper EPA registered disinfectant, spraying down those touchable surfaces.
Rick: What’s some of the advice you give to the precious resource of employees that you’re the steward for?
Jason: Be honest and real. This is a real virus and we have to be able to address it in a way where you hear your people and their concerns. We’ve sat down and done our huddles, and the first thing I like to do is start off with what they are experiencing, how they’re feeling and what staff are dealing with even at home. Single moms or even a family that is used to their kids going to school every day, now have to take care of those kids as they learn from home. On top of all those things they’re dealing with, they work for an essential business and they are still going to work when they can.
We have to be really careful, making sure we have the proper PPE, the gloves, the goggles, the proper disinfectants, whether it be a spray bottle or an electric sprayer, to spray chemicals. It’s also important to be educating on social distancing and making sure people are wearing their masks.
We put together disinfectant teams for those who have either had symptoms of COVID-19 in a workplace or for those who have had employees test positive in the workplace, and we are providing services to those places. You have to be extremely cautious with spraying surfaces, and when the job is done you take the PPE off the correct way, dispose of gloves the correct way, and ultimately go back and wash your hands the correct way
Rick: I love how you talked about sitting down with your people, this is your personal and professional experience. Being honest with people is so important. A pandemic is a classic example of how a leader needs to understand that the important thing is to put all your cards on the table.
Jason: Yes, people are so important at this time. When we were looking for teams for medical facilities we put out ads saying we are looking for heroes, to be that second responder. And some people just say that that’s not their thing, this is unprecedented territory. However, there are going to be people who answer that call and it’s our job to make them safe.
Rick: As a CEO of a very successful small business what are you seeing out there? What’s the landscape telling you from your fellow CEOS and company leaders with where we are in the economy right now?
Jason: I say if we look back to a few weeks ago alot of us were feeling like the bottom was falling out and the world ending. I think the reality now is a lot of business leaders are looking at how we can pivot, and what the business world is going to look like in the new normal.
I think we have to transition, and a lot of people are optimistic. Now a lot of businesses aren’t on the same playing field. If you’re an essential business and you’re still running, some of us are able to do that but restaurants and other businesses watched their revenues change overnight. Now they have to shift to take out orders and delivery services, all those little things have to change.
Our Frederick community is resilient, we are strong. People are really looking at ways of how they can adapt, and how their business may look a month from now. I think we are starting to be a bit more optimistic, and regardless of what you may have gotten from the government whether it be local or the state, there are all these little things that have helped some small businesses. I truly think the business community is going to pull together and you’re going to see in time the folks who have the financial runway to make things happen, will come back, and stronger than before.
Rick: I became CEO of this chamber at the same moment you became Chair of the Board of the Chamber, and there isn’t anyone I would’ve wanted by my side as a partner in leading this Chamber with what we’ve been through in the last year.
In your role as immediate past board chair, can you talk about why being a member of the Chamber has mattered to you and to Lee Building Maintenance?
Jason: I do believe we had a really strong Board when making that transition last year and I love being a part of the Chamber because of moments like this. No one knew this moment (COVID-19) was going to happen, and I look at you and your team and what you’ve done as far as these Conversations; you could have sat back like any other CEO and waited to figure things out, but no. Your team came together and stepped up to keep our members engaged and I think that’s what makes our Chamber stand out.
That’s why it’s so important to be involved in the Chamber and to continue to be even more engaged, is because this may be what it’s going to be like for awhile because we can’t get together like we used to. That doesn’t mean we can’t get valuable information or the things we need to continue growing our businesses. And not only that, there are things we can do outside of our businesses to help grow our communities, nonprofits and other philanthropy. Those are what I think help to make Fredrick special.
Rick: So we’re all starting to think about getting back to work, we’re looking toward a model to when we can reopen. And for all our CEOs out there, we’re going to be bringing back our most valuable resource, our employees and our workforce. I just thought it was important to hear from you because everyone who brings an employee back into a workplace now has to think about taking the steps to keep their most precious resources safe at work.
What I want all our viewers to realize is that an obligation that a CEO or corporate leader has is to bring people back safely. So for all CEOs out there facing these decisions, it wouldn’t hurt you to reach out to a trusted source and counsel like Jason.
You can talk to Jason and make an appointment because I think it’s truly critical. I have an absolute responsibility to keep my treasured workforce safe before I bring them back and every employer has that as well.
Jason, I want to thank you. I treasure your leadership and your council in the Chamber but more importantly, your personal friendship means a lot to me so thank you for being here.
Jason: Thanks a lot Rick, thank you to you and your team for putting this together. Stay safe!
Frederick Chamber Insights is a news outlet of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about membership, programs and initiatives, please visit our website.