PATRIOT COMMUNICATIONS

COVID-19 STANDARD

OPERATING PROCEDURES for:

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FIBER IN-HOME SITE SURVEYS AND

IN-HOME FIBER CONVERSIONS

 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a division of Homeland Security, has released guidance on what is to be considered the “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce”. 

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The following category of essential workers can be found at www.cisa.gov within the Critical Infrastructure Workforce tab, and under the category of “Communications and Information Technology”.

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• Engineers, technicians and associated personnel responsible for infrastructure construction and restoration, including contractors for construction and engineering of fiber optic cables, buried conduit, small cells, other wireless facilities, and other communications sector-related infrastructure. This includes construction of new facilities and deployment of new technology as these are required to address congestion or customer usage due to unprecedented use of remote services.

• Installation, maintenance and repair technicians that establish, support or repair service as needed.

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It is our belief that the operation of Patriot Communications and our technicians falls within this description and would be considered part of the essential workforce outlined by the CISA.  Due to the nature of our work we propose the following standard operating procedures be adopted in order to continue conducting fiber to the home site surveys and in-home fiber conversions.

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NOTE: Patriot Communications reserves the right at any point in time from the initial scheduling phone call to the completion of the survey or conversion for our technicians to use their discretion to cancel or discontinue work for any customer or in any environment where they deem any elevated health risk may be present.

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FIBER TO HOME SITE SURVEYS

1. Phone Call for Scheduling the Survey: During this initial contact the following information exchange will take place with the homeowner

   • Homeowner will be given a brief description of the services that will be conducted during their fiber to the home site survey including the fact that the technician will need to enter their home for a short period of time.

   • Homeowner will be made aware of any and all safety precautions that will be taken by the technician including the observance of proper social distancing and personal protective equipment that will be worn.

   • Homeowner will be given the option of whether they want to move forward with scheduling after being aware of the process and the safety measures that will be in place.

   • If they choose to move forward with scheduling the homeowner will be asked if they have experienced any COVID-19 symptoms, been exposed to the COVID-19 virus, or if they feel entering their home will in any way place the technician at risk of exposure.

   • Homeowner will be made aware of the technician’s right to discontinue the survey if they feel at any point they will experience an elevated health risk by completing the project.

   • Homeowner will be asked to call into Patriot prior to their set appointment if any circumstances change in regards to any of the information exchanged during this initial scheduling phone call. We will reschedule the appointment if deemed necessary at that time.

2. Conducting the Survey

   • Within one hour of proceeding to the home owner’s property the technician will call the home owner to let them know the survey will begin soon

     • If the home owner answers the phone the technician can confirm one final time the homeowner wants to proceed and go over some of the questions that would normally be asked in-person to potentially shorten the duration of the person to person contact.

     • If the homeowner does not answer the technician will leave a voicemail or a text informing them they will arrive soon.

   • Upon arriving at the home the technician will put on their personal protective equipment including facemask, boot covers, and rubber gloves.

   • After knocking on the door, technician will back up a minimum of six feet to ensure proper social distancing upon initial contact with the homeowner. The homeowner will then be invited to join the technician outside to do the exterior portion of the survey maintaining proper social distancing throughout.

   • Once potential nid/drilling locations have been identified the technician will enter the house with the home owner.

   • Technician will remain in the house for the minimum amount of time necessary to confirm that the best potential drilling location has been identified, always maintaining at least 6 feet of distance from the homeowner and leaving their PPE on throughout the process.

   • Technician will complete the drilling and hanging of the nid outside and will forego having the home owner sign the survey, instead indicating that verbal consent was granted.

   • Technician will dispose of rubber gloves and boot covers after each completed survey.

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IN-HOME FIBER CONVERSIONS

1. Phone Call for Scheduling the Conversion: During this initial contact the following information exchange will take place with the homeowner

   • Homeowner will be given a brief description of the services that will be conducted during their fiber conversion, including the fact that the technician will need to be inside the home for a significant period of time, and only internet and or phone services will be rendered at this time (no cable).

   • Homeowner will be made aware of any and all safety precautions that will be taken by the technician including the observance of proper social distancing and personal protective equipment that will be worn.

   • Homeowner will be given the option of whether they want to move forward with scheduling after being aware of the process and the safety measures that will be in place.

   • If they choose to move forward with scheduling the homeowner will be asked if they have experienced any COVID-19 symptoms, been exposed to the COVID-19 virus, or if they feel entering their home will in any way place the technician at risk of exposure.

   • Homeowner will be aware of the technician's right to discontinue the conversion if they feel at any point they will experience an elevated health risk by completing the project.

2. Conducting the Conversion

   • Within one hour of proceeding to the home owner’s property, the technician will call the homeowner to let them know the conversion will begin soon

     • If the homeowner answers the phone the technician can confirm one final time the homeowner wants to proceed with the conversion

     • If the homeowner does not answer the technician will leave a voicemail or a text informing them they will arrive soon.

   • Upon arriving at the home the technician will put on their personal protective equipment including facemask, boot covers, and rubber gloves.

   • After knocking on the door technician will back up a minimum of six feet to ensure proper social distancing upon initial contact with the homeowner.

   • While inside the home

     • The aforementioned PPE will be worn throughout the entirety of the process

     • Technician will only enter areas of the home absolutely necessary for completing the conversion

     • As much as physically possible tools will be kept in the technician’s pouch or tool bags rather than laying tools down on surfaces inside the home while not in use

     • Technician will not have any contact with the homeowner’s devices including computers, laptops, telephone handsets, remotes, etc. Any contact with these items necessary to complete the conversion can be done by the homeowner with verbal instruction from the technician while still observing social distancing guidelines, or over the phone.

     • As much as possible the homeowner should try to remain in a room other than the one in which the technician is working at any given time.

     • Upon completion technician will not require signature of the homeowner and will instead indicate their verbal consent.

   • Technician will dispose of rubber gloves and boot covers after each completed conversion.