Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) has been recognized for its efforts to make working environments safer for employees during the pandemic.
The company recently received WELL Health-Safety Rating (HSR) certifications across its headquarters in Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, which reflect the types of enhancements made at all locations. The WELL HSR certification was created by the International Well Building Institute with input from over 600 COVID-19 task force experts to identify places that have adopted evidence-based health and safety measures and best practices.
“Our corporate real estate and facilities staff have worked diligently to ensure increased health and safety measures at all of our facilities,” says Jason Kaye, divisional senior vice president of corporate real estate. “We’re very confident that we have gone far and above what most other companies have been doing or have done to make their environments safer, and we are very proud of that.”
The recognition requires meeting at least 15 measures across six core areas: cleaning and sanitation, air and water quality management, innovation, emergency preparedness, health service resources and stakeholder engagement and communication.
“This certification aligns with our overall mission as a company,” Kaye says. “We're all about getting at root causes of health and keeping people healthy.”
HCSC already met many protocols required for certification. Early in the pandemic, buildings across the enterprise were outfitted with state-of-the-art air filters, ultraviolet disinfecting light systems, self-sanitizing door handles and other mitigations.
The company took additional measures to meet WELL HSR standards. For example, HCSC installed air filters that trap minute particles and airborne respiratory droplets at 17 sites where these were not being used. UV-HEPA filters are also used to collect active viruses in elevators and on escalators at offices in our five states.
These upgrades exemplify how the pandemic has permanently raised the bar for safety at HCSC, Kaye says.
“These safety measures are going to be a continued focus for us,” he says. “They are not going to go away as soon as COVID numbers fall. These are new practices that will stick and help all of us in the long term.”