Preparedness Plan for Rainbow Rider (COVID-19)

Rainbow Rider is committed to providing a safe and healthy place for our employees as well as our customers. To ensure that, we have developed the following Preparedness Plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Management and all employees are responsible for implementing this plan. Our goal is to mitigate the potential for transmission of COVID-19 in our workplaces and communities, and that requires full cooperation among employees, management and customers. Only through this cooperative effort can we establish and maintain the safety and health of our workplaces.

Our employees are our most important assets. At Rainbow Rider, we are serious about the safety and health of our employees, as well as keeping them working. Worker involvement is essential in developing and implementing a successful Preparedness Plan for COVID-19. We have involved our employees in this process by listening to their concerns regarding their interactions with passengers. When drivers voiced their concerns about how to socially distance themselves from the passengers, we responded by making the seats near them unavailable to the public, so as to create more space between the driver and the passenger. Furthermore, plexiglass enclosures were built around the driver seat to prevent contact with ambulatory passengers who board the bus. Additionally, we implemented a screening process within our dispatch department asking those calling in to schedule a ride a series of questions regarding whether or not they may have been exposed to COVID-19 or if they have tested positive.  Passengers who have traveled outside the county, have had contact with anyone with confirmed COVID-19, are exhibiting a fever great than 100°F, difficulty breathing or coughing or that have tested positive themselves for COVID-19 will be denied transportation on Rainbow Rider but will be offered information for alternative methods of transportation. Rainbow Rider’s Preparedness Plan for COVID-19 follows Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) guidelines, federal OSHA standards related to COVID-19 and Executive Order 20-48, and addresses:

• hygiene and respiratory etiquette;
• engineering and administrative controls for social distancing;
• customer controls and protections for drop-off, pick-up and delivery;
• housekeeping, including cleaning, disinfecting and decontamination;
• prompt identification and isolation of sick persons;
• communications and training that will be provided to managers and employees; and
• management and supervision necessary to ensure effective implementation of the plan.

Screening and policies for employees exhibiting signs and symptoms of COVID-19

Employees have been informed of and encouraged to self-monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. The following policies and procedures are being implemented to assess employees’ health status prior to entering the workplace and for employees to report when they are sick or experiencing symptoms. If an employee, if after coming to work, starts to exhibit symptoms related to COVID-19, they are to immediately contact the office and ask to be removed from the schedule for the day. If an employee finds they are exhibiting symptoms of the COVID-19 while not at work, the employee is to notify their supervisor immediately to let them know they will not be at work the following day (if they are scheduled to work). If a driver is sent home during their shift due to experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, they are to bring the bus they are driving back to the garage where they picked it up. They are to leave the bus out in the parking lot and NOT bring it into the garage. They are to immediately leave the premises afterwards. Rainbow Rider management will coordinate the bus they were driving for disinfection as well as the bus garage and employee areas. Disinfecting of the buses is done by using an ozone disinfection machine. Ozone has a 99% effectiveness when killing pathogens like the flue, SARS, and the coronavirus. The novel coronavirus is an “enveloped virus”, which are more sensitive to physicochemical challenges (ozone treatment). Previous studies show that 99% of viruses have been damaged or destroyed after just 30 seconds of exposure to ozone. Ozone generators are able to make ozone from normal air and are normally used as room disinfectants.

Rainbow Rider has implemented leave policies that promote employees staying at home when they are sick, when household members are sick, or when required by a health care provider to isolate or quarantine themselves or a member of their household. Rainbow Rider has also implemented the Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Employee Paid Leave (Emergency Sick Leave and/or Emergency Family and Medical Leave Act) for those employees who meet the qualifications.  

If any employee has been notified that they were exposed to COVID-19 while at work, they are to immediately remove themselves from the schedule and get tested. If they have Emergency Sick Leave hours to use, they will use those hours for any work missed while waiting for the test results to come back. If the test if negative, then they may return to work. If the test is positive, they are to remain in quarantine for up to 14 days.

In addition, the privacy of employees’ health status and health information will be protected. If Rainbow Rider is notified that an employee needs to be removed from the schedule due to possible exposure to COVID-19, Rainbow Rider will issue a memo to all employees that informs them that there has been a potential exposure in the workplace. Under ADA guidance, Rainbow Rider will not disclose who the employee is, but will ask the employee to notify those who they have come in contact with over the past two weeks.

Handwashing

Basic infection prevention measures are being implemented at our workplaces at all times. Employees are instructed to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water frequently throughout the day, but especially at the beginning and end of their shift, prior to any mealtimes and after using the toilet. All visitors to the facility will be required to wash their hands prior to or immediately upon entering the facility. Hand-sanitizer may be used for hand hygiene in place of soap and water, as long as hands are not visibly soiled.

Hand sanitizer is made available at each garage location and upon request for those drivers who are remotely located. Drivers are encouraged to use the hand sanitizer after any instance they come into contact with the public. Additionally, each bus is equipped with disinfectants that the driver will use to wipe down any areas that were touched by passengers after the passenger has departed the bus. Drivers are encouraged to wash their hands at any public facilities they are allowed to use throughout the day.

Respiratory etiquette:

Office staff: Employees and visitors are being instructed to cover their mouth and nose with their sleeve or a tissue when coughing or sneezing and to avoid touching their face, in particular their mouth, nose and eyes, with their hands. They should dispose of tissues in the trash and wash or sanitize their hands immediately afterward. Posters provided by the CDC will be posted at all of our facilities and shared with all Rainbow Rider employees.

Bus Driver and Passengers: Passengers requesting a ride will be asked a series of questions before a ride will be scheduled:

1. Have you traveled outside of the country in the past 14 days?
2. Have you had contact with anyone with confirmed COVID-19 in the last 14 days?
3. Have you had a fever greater than 100 or difficulty breathing or a cough in the last 14 days?
4. Are you currently experiencing a fever over 100 degrees, difficult breaking or cough?

If the caller answers YES to any of the questions, they will be denied a ride, however, they will be offered information for alternative methods of transportation. Also, if the caller answers yes to any of the questions above, they will then be asked:

5. Have you tested positive for the COVID-19? If yes, then they will be asked:
   1. When did you start exhibiting symptoms? (If 14 days haven’t passed, then they can’t schedule a ride.
   2. The dispatcher will mark their file with the date of 14 days passing since the start of symptoms.
   3. After 14 days and the passenger calls back, then the dispatcher will ask if they have had no fever for the past 72 hours with no use of medication. If the answer is no, then…
   4. They will ask questions 1 through 4 again. If all answers are “no”, then a ride can be scheduled.

If someone schedules a doctor’s appointment in advance, dispatchers will make sure to tell the passenger that if they start to exhibit symptoms between the time they schedule the ride and the day of their appointment, to call us back to cancel their ride.

Due to the unavailability of sanitizing products, drivers won’t be able to offer sanitizer to the passengers; therefore, we ask passengers to bring their own sanitizer on and use when necessary. Drivers will disinfect the occupied areas of the bus in between each ride.

Additionally, it is recommended that our drivers and passengers wear a mask from pick-up to drop-off, however, we are not making the use of masks mandatory.

Social distancing….

While on the bus:

It’s not often that there is more than one passenger on the bus, however, we do understand that this is not always the case. In the event that more than one passenger is scheduled to be on the bus, drivers will assign their seating in accordance to the social distancing guidelines. At no point should there be more than 4 passengers on the bus at a time and passengers will be seated with one row of seats in between them and staggered across the aisle. See diagram below:

While in the office:

Social distancing is being implemented in the workplace through the following engineering and administrative controls:

• Any employee who is able to complete their work remotely, is provided the opportunity to do so.
• Dispatchers are working a rotating weekly shift of only two dispatchers scheduled at one time, so as to maintain social distancing requirements.
• Drivers are afforded the opportunities to do at-home training from 1 to 2 days per week and drive routes 1 to 2 days per week.
• Shifts of office staff are staggered, some work from home, and separate offices help promote social distancing.
• Dispatchers have received cubicle areas that separate them from one another.
• Members of the public who come into the main office location, can interact with the dispatch department through the glass partition.

Employees, visitors and customers are prohibited from gathering in groups. Employees and visitors are prohibited from gathering in confined areas and from using other employees’ personal protective equipment, phones, computer equipment, desks, cubicles, workstations, offices or other personal work tools and equipment.

Housekeeping while on the bus

Regular housekeeping practices are being implemented, including routine cleaning and disinfecting of work surfaces, equipment, tools and machinery, buses and areas in the work environment, including restrooms, break rooms, lunch rooms, & meeting rooms.. Frequent cleaning and disinfecting will be conducted in high-touch areas, such as phones, keyboards, touch screens, controls, door handles, copy machines, etc. At the end of each shift, each dispatcher disinfects their personal area, which includes keyboard, phone, two-way radio, and desktop. Throughout the day, all office personnel contribute in disinfecting doorknobs, countertops, printers/faxes/phones, and other places of congregation.

Communications and training

This Preparedness Plan was communicated to all employees via email and posting around the garages on _____ and necessary training was provided per each request. Additional communication and training will be ongoing and provided to all employees who did not receive the initial communication. Instructions will be communicated to customers about how drop-off, pick-up and delivery will be conducted to ensure social distancing between the customer, the worker and other customers, and about the recommendation that customers use face masks when dropping off, picking up or accepting delivery. Management and employees are to work through this new program together and update the training as necessary. This COVID-19 Preparedness Plan has been certified by Rainbow Rider management and was posted throughout the workplace [date]. It will be updated as necessary.

This COVID-19 Preparedness Plan was approved by the Rainbow Rider Transit Board on June 11th, 2020.

Certified by:
Brenda Brittin, Transit Director

Jennifer Olson, HR Manager

Tom Partington, Operations/Safety Manager