STAY HOME! (but what about the job site)
In response to the evolving Covid-19 pandemic, the Mayor of Philadelphia recently issued a “Stay At Home” order for the city of Philadelphia which begins Monday, March 23, 2020 at 8am and continues until it is rescinded. This order notes that construction activity may continue until Friday, March 27, at 5pm. This allows work to continue in order to secure and make work sites safe. Early in my career, I was responsible for projects that were underway at the time of the unfortunate events of 9/11. I had the daunting task of securing and stabilizing multiple sites for a Wall St. trading firm, while working remotely. As a result, I learned some valuable lessons from both the positions of landlord as well as a tenant. Below are a few tips to get through the next few days;
If you haven’t already done so, establish a line of communication between the landlord and tenant. Designate a central point of contact on both sides and follow a protocol for communicating between both parties. There will be a lot of activity over the next few days and the last thing one wants is to fight an echo chamber of demands or requests. This protocol should include a mutually agreeable, briefing schedule, so all parties will know when to expect an update.
Have your project manager provide you with their list of action items to review. Add to it, if necessary, and return it as quickly as possible in order to leave him/her with enough time to take action. Remember, the project manager is your conduit to the team in the field. They too, have multiple layers to get through in order to execute tasks.
As part of your Business Continuity Plan (BCP) or Disaster Recovery Plan should be an emergency contact directory or a list of essential personnel and vendors. If you haven’t already done so, review it and verify it is up to date and that everyone is working from the same document.
Maintenance and repair of existing buildings is exempt from the order and may continue.
Emergency systems maintenance and repair activities are exempt from the order and may continue.
This would also be a good time to reach out to your list of critical vendors and verify that their services will still be available and talk through with them about how they will execute in this environment.
If your firm will be self-performing any work, a protocol should be established to safely assess and access the space/facility. Proper personal protection and sanitary precautions should be taken throughout the activity.
We will get through this. Stay Safe and Healthy!