COVID-19 Expanse Electrical Update 3

Health Alert

Dear Colleagues,

Today the Business Continuity Team (BCT) met to discuss our business operations and how we may need to adapt to yet unknown interruptions in our business as well as address the safety of our employees.  As part of this planning, we’re looking at our critical business functions and establishing plans for each.  Examples of what is being discussed and planned for are:

  • What are our critical business functions?

  • Who handles these functions and who is their backup

  • What measures can we implement to try and keep our employees safe from exposure while at work

  • What processes should we change to enable us to better operate in a yet unknown environment

  • What is the threat level at each of our areas of operation

Some immediate action items from today meetings:

  • Reach out to groups cleaning our offices to ensure they hit all high contact areas.

  • Look for additional sources of hand sanitizer/and sanitizing wipes to distribute to branch locations for continued cleaning

  • Developed a plan ensure to branch office personnel have access to necessary electronic equipment to work remotely

  • Developed a redundancy plan to ensure payroll will be entered if key staff are sick

  • Identified an office personal rotation concept to ensure one person at each office daily

  • Plan to use Microsoft Teams to make sure the branch phone lines are answered

Most importantly – if you do not feel well, stay home.  The symptoms of the corona virus are:

The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure.*

  • Fever

  • Cough

  • Shortness of breath


If you develop emergency warning signs for COVID-19 get medical attention immediately. Emergency warning signs include*:

  • Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

  • Persistent pain or pressure in the chest

  • New confusion or inability to arouse

  • Bluish lips or face

*This list is not all inclusive. Please consult your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning.

We will meet daily to discuss updates and routine communication will be shared on a weekly basis or as required.  There are no perfect answers to many of the questions you may have regarding the current and future state of the coronavirus spread.  What we are assuming at this point is that the spread will continue, but to what extent, we hesitate to guess. 

Recommended strategies to protect yourself and your loved ones at home and at work:

  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.

  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

  • Stay home when you are sick.

  • Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

  • Stay away from large gatherings of people if possible (i.e. malls, sporting events, etc.)

  • Do not shake hands or hug others

Again, we are trying to purchase sanitizing wipes / hand sanitizer for our work locations but this is proving difficult as supplies are running low across the nation. 

Kind regards,

Brett Swinden | Vice President, Human Resources

COVID-19 Expanse Electrical Update 2

Health Alert

Dear Colleagues,

As COVID-19 (Coronavirus) continues to spread globally, including the US, we are monitoring this closely to take any steps necessary to ensure the safety of our employees and the continued operations of our business / support of our customers. 

What we are doing

A Business Continuity Team (BCT) comprising HR, HSE, Executive Management, and relevant business leads from across the company is being established and will convene regularly to assess the situation and ensure business preparedness and appropriate care for all colleagues.  Regular updates will be sent from the BCT via company-wide E-mail and ExpanseConnect. 

What you can do

Make sure you have read all of the information and guidance on COVID-19 – this is updated almost daily. Understanding the risk and how to best protect yourself and others is the most important thing you can do and the best way to avoid spreading misinformation and fear. If you have symptoms or are concerned about potential exposure, please call your doctor and inform your manager.  Do not report to work if you are having symptoms of COVID-19.  The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure:

  • Fever

  • Cough

  • Shortness of breath

Call your doctor if you develop symptoms, and have been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19

OR

Have recently traveled from an area with widespread or ongoing community spread of COVID-19.

For those working in our offices, please take your laptops home as a precaution daily in case we need to make changes at short notice and restrict access to the building. Given the current number of cases, potential for wider exposure and predictions that this is likely to continue for some time, this is a prudent approach to take. 

Please continue to show respect and compassion for your colleagues and others. It’s important to be aware that people will experience this differently and be conscious of that in our interactions. People with compromised immunity may be at higher risk, and those who have elderly friends or relatives may also be feeling anxious, so remember to be kind and understanding when discussing COVID-19. I would also urge you not to speculate or to share unverified information.

We will keep you informed and further guidance will follow.

I would like to thank everyone for remaining prudent, being calm and continuing to look out for each other.

Kind regards,

Brett Swinden | Vice President, Human Resources

 

Novel Coronavirus

Health Alert

Colleagues,

As you may know from media reports, there is an ongoing outbreak of a new Coronavirus in Hubei Province, China with associated patients diagnosed in South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, France, Malaysia, Australia, Nepal and the USA. The current situation is that there are 2794 confirmed cases of new coronavirus infection and 80 deaths. The World Health Organization met and has decided not to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

Signs of infection

Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

Transmission

While the cause of the pneumonia is a novel coronavirus, the understanding of the transmission potential and modes of transmission remain incomplete. Therefore, it would be prudent to reduce the general risk of acquiring acute respiratory infections while travelling by:

• avoiding close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections;

• frequent hand-washing, especially after direct contact with ill people or their environment;

• avoiding close contact with live or dead farm or wild animals;

• travelers with symptoms of acute respiratory infection should practice cough etiquette (maintain distance, cover coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues or clothing, and wash hands).

• do not travel if you are sick – note that some locations have implemented screening, and travelers may face quarantine and testing (ISOS)

What to do in case of symptoms during or after travel

In case of symptoms suggestive of respiratory illness either during or after travel, travelers are encouraged to seek medical attention as soon as possible and to share their travel history with their healthcare provider.

Expanse is closely monitoring the situation as it evolves, and further updates will be released as appropriate.

For additional info, please visit any of these websites:

▪ WHO: https://www.who.int/ith/2020-24-01-outbreak-of-Pneumonia-caused-by-new-coronavirus/en/

▪ CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html

Regards,

Brett Swinden | Vice President, Human Resources

Sales Team Update

In pursuit of achieving our vision to Build a Better Future at Expanse, we have been focused over the last several months on enhancing and strengthening our sales capabilities across the company. This includes the development of consistent and updated sales materials that reflect the services provided across our different regional brands, as well as filling personnel gaps within the sales organization itself. Today, I am excited to share updates on the sales team.

 

Stuart Royal, Technical Sales Lead:

Stuart joined Wellkeeper, a prior subsidiary of Expanse Electrical, as their sales manager in November 2009.  Following the recent sale of Wellkeeper, Stuart joined the Expanse team to lead the sales effort and strategy for our technical sales team. The team’s primary focus is identifying sales leads and engage in the direct sales effort of automation systems and panels. Stuart stays up to date on the automation offering of the various branch offices to help identify internal opportunities for panels (e.g., pump panels, dual starters, panel shop prefab opportunities). Stuart has also been tasked with researching and sharing competitive information and product offering gaps with the business development team (including engineering and panel shop).

 

Craig Merriman, Technical Sales Representative:

Craig joined Expanse as the Technical Sales Representative in June 2019.  Craig works with Stuart Royal to identify customer leads and engage in direct sales effort of automation systems and panels. He, too, regularly accompanies the field sales representatives on sales calls focused on the technical aspects of panels and automation.  Craig helps the sales lead develop strategies to win key projects, generate proposals for automation systems, and communicate price changes within this service area. Craig interfaces with the panel shop on panel quotes and with clients concerning order status updates and delivery time.

 

Jeremy Davis and Jimmy Ornelas, Field Sales Representatives:

Jeremy and Jimmy joined the Expanse sales team as new Field Sales Representatives in June and April 2019 respectively. Their main role is to develop new opportunities with targeted accounts and maintain relationships with existing clients to retain that business.  They also track upcoming activity and crews required for customers.  From time to time, they also assist with collections and help solve invoicing issues. To help promote Expanse and improve brand recognition in the marketplace, they participate in community and marketing events.

 

Mark Mitterlehner, Director of Business Development

Mark joins us with over 30 years of sales and business development experience within the Oil & Gas, Engineering Procurement & Construction, Petrochemical, Refining, Chemical Processing, OEM, and Power Generation markets. As our Director of Business Development, he will be directly responsible for compiling market data to help us drive decision making and a sales focus, promoting new revenue opportunities, monitoring our quote success rates and making strategic adjustments, and working directly with the Project Group to develop our go to market strategies. In particular, he will be focused on growing our midstream and heavy industrial business lines. Prior to joining Expanse, Mark served as the Senior Business Development Manager for Saber Power Services.

 

Tara Gillen, Sales Operations Specialist

Tara has more than 15 years of experience in sales support and project management, and she will be assisting our team in several different areas to ensure we are capturing new growth opportunities and improving our marketing strategies. In her role, she will be responsible for identifying leads for our electrical and automation lines of business, implementing and maintaining a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, tracking customer satisfaction, monitoring trends and competitor strategies, and managing some of our external marketing initiatives. Already Tara has helped to improve our organization and coordination within the sales function, as well as identify opportunities to enforce and embed our new branding across internal and external initiatives.

 

Robert Brady, Temporary Sales Consultant

Brady has joined the Expanse team on a temporary basis to consult on our sales and business development strategies as we work to reenergize our company throughout the year. He has nearly 40 years of experience in the oil and gas and construction industries, supporting several different functions such as business development, marketing and sales. Brady is an expert at client relations and is helping us to strengthen our current customer relationships, as well as build new relationships that will help Expanse to grow in a strategic and sustainable manner.

 

Making sure we have a sales team in place – with the necessary experience and expertise – is crucial to helping up achieve a better size and scope for our sustainability, which will ensure we grow our business in the right way. I feel confident that these are the right people to help us improve our sales capabilities. Already they are working closely with our branch teams to identify opportunities and provide support. In addition to these team members, we are also looking to hire a new Account Manager for the Permian as well as adding a sales team member in North Dakota. As we continue to make progress, I will be sure to share updates. Meantime, please join me in welcoming these folks to the team.

 

Jerrit Coward

CEO

Welcome to the Training Portal

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Welcome to the Expanse Access Training Portal

As introduced in last month’s safety meeting, the Odessa branch will be pilot testing our New Online Training Portal.  For the 4th quarter, all of your required training must be completed via the new Expanse Access Training Portal.

To enter the portal and set up your account, follow the steps below:

1.  Open Internet Explorer or Google Chrome.

2.  Type in web address in to your web browser. (The Kiosk’s are already set up).

https://expanseaccess.appsinternational.com/OnlineTraining/Login

3.  Enter your Username: Your Employee ID Number

4.  Enter your Password for the first time:  TRAINING

5.  Click on your name in the top right corner and select change Password. 

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Your Password must be changed when you initially log in.

Once in the LMS, you can click on “New Required Courses” and your online courses will appear. 

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For any questions or issues, please contact:

Adam Bell @ adam.bell@expanseelectrical.com or 432-634-0268

Brian Garmer @ brian.garmer@expanseelectrical.com or 208-761-7464

Trying to Make Sense

On Saturday, yet another inexplicable tragedy occurred in Midland & Odessa, TX. It’s impossible to understand why such events occur and sadly they seem to be occurring more and more. We sincerely hope all of our employees are safe as well as all loved ones and friends. We feel it’s appropriate following this tragedy to remind everyone of our Employee Assistance Program (EAP). EAP is staffed with professionals that are well equipped to help our employees deal with situations like this one as well as many others. I encourage you to reach out should you feel it would be helpful. Information about this benefit as well as the number to call are below.

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Safety Stand Down

After a long run with little or no safety incidents, we have seen a drastic increase lately with yet another incident occurring Friday.  Based on some of the initial feedback from a few of our Expanse Leadership Summits and to help raise the level of awareness about what’s been happening, this Thursday we will have a company-wide Safety Stand-down to highlight these incidents and to ask for everyone’s help in bringing about positive change. At 7AM Central time Thursday morning (a separate call will also be held at 7AM MST for New Mexico), we’re asking that all employees dial into a listen-only conference call where I’ll speak for 10-15 minutes about some of these incidents and ask for everyone’s help to build a safer culture that we can be proud of. One that keeps our employees from getting hurt.  Details for calling in are at the bottom of this message.

 Following the call, I’m asking that each supervisor hold a meeting with their crews to discuss ways we can impact our safety and discuss what each team member can do differently to work more safely. 

 I’d like you all to dedicate one hour for this critical Safety Stand-down (the call & your small group discussion). Safety is one of our key values and Working Safely is a core behavior we must all exhibit. As it says in the Expanse Way, that includes “taking personal responsibility for safety of oneself and others.” I will share what I am going to personally change during our call, and we want every member of the team to identify and commit to one thing that they will do differently to make a positive change as well.

 It’s critical that we address these safety issues together as a team. We cannot continue to hurt people. This is my priority and I know it is yours. Please ensure that the call is attended, and these meetings are held by the leads of our teams. Each of us holds the key to keeping ourselves and others safe. Together we can make this happen and show our people their safety is our most important priority.

 7 am CST  Texas Call in Number:    877-407-4177;  Passcode: 13694203

 7 am MST  New Mexico Call in Number:    877-407-4177; Passcode: 13694205

Jerrit Coward

CEO

OSHA Recordable - Portable Grinder Use

All,

Please share the attached Safety Alert with all crews and shop employees.  Although this incident involved a portable grinder, there are lessons to be learned while using any portable power tool.  It is important to understand the use of the tool and the proper use of any accessories that are available for the equipment.  The User’s Manual explains any precautions or additional safeguards to be used when using different accessories.  This will also be discuss during next month’s safety meetings.  Good lessons to take home as well.

Regards,

Adam Bell | HSE Director

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Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.

Desplácese hacia abajo para la traducción en español

Craftsman Social Media Campaign - #webuildthis

 

To engage the Expanse Electrical Co Craftsman, we have developed a new social media program to demonstrate our high-quality work.  This program will improve moral through pride in workmanship, competition and ultimately retention.  Through promoting our companies’ culture through demonstrating our high quality of work, we can use this as a platform to attract new employees as well.

 Here is how the program works:

  • -Encourage employees to submit photos or videos of them and their team mates performing high quality work to: webuildthis@expanseelectrical.com  with employee names, branch and a brief description of the work performed. 

  • -These photos will be vetted by our Volunteer Evaluation Committee to review for quality and safety approval weekly.  Once approved they are passed onto the Social Media Group.  The committee will also choose a winning photo every week. 

  • -The SMG will then post all the approved photos (content) throughout the week on Facebook and Instagram with hashtags; #webuildthis, #expanseelectricalco, #craftsman, their regional brand, and appropriate company watermarks to prevent plagiarism.  This regular posting throughout the week will increase traffic to our pages and help build a following.  All employees can follow this at Expanse Electrical for Facebook and Instagram. 

  • -The winning photo selected by the committee will post every Friday at noon (CST) with the submitter receiving a $100 gift card.   This will culminate the weeks postings on Instagram and Facebook.

  • -The winning photo will also be posted on our LinkedIn page with a small detailed description of what was being done at the job site and enforce our focus on quality and craftsmanship.   Weekly posts focused on quality can be followed by our customers and employees.   Future customers will also be able to access these posts since they are public.

 As for continued operations, after the Waybook rollout, we could incorporate a few slides in the Safety meeting, especially highlighting the weekly winners from the previous month and encourage participation in this manner. 

 Who Can Submit?

All company employees can submit images or videos; however, we’re especially interested in submission from our craftsmen in the field that are participating in the work being submitted.

 Photo or Video Guidelines

  • Customer names should not be shown. (Some do not want their name in our promotional images)

  • Proper PPE must be exhibited at all times.

  • Professional behavior representing a Craftsman must be exhibited.

  • Incorporate new logos when possible.

Participation in the #webuildthis campaign grants Expanse Electrical Co. permission to use and/or modify the photograph, video, or other digital media (“photo”) in any and all of its publications, including web-based publications, without other considerations.

Campaña de Redes Sociales de Craftsman - #webuildthis

 

Para involucrar a Expanse Electrical Co Craftsman, hemos desarrollado un nuevo programa de redes sociales para demostrar nuestro trabajo de alta calidad. Este programa mejorará la moral a través del orgullo en la mano de obra, la competencia y, en última instancia, la retención. A través de la promoción de la cultura de nuestras empresas mediante la demostración de nuestra alta calidad de trabajo, podemos usar esto como una plataforma para atraer nuevos empleados.

 Así es como el programa funciona:

  • -Animar a los empleados a subir fotos o videos de ellos y sus compañeros de trabajo hacienda trabajo de alta calidad a: webuildthis@expanseelectrical.com  con los nombres de los empleados, la sucursal/rama y una breve descripción del trabajo realizado. 

  • - Estas fotos serán examinadas por nuestro Comité de Evaluación de Voluntarios para la aprobación de calidad y seguridad semanalmente. Una vez aprobados, pasan al Grupo de Redes Sociales.  El comité también elegirá una foto ganadora cada semana. 

  • - El SMG luego publicará todas las fotos aprobadas (contenido) a través de la semana en Facebook e Instagram con los hashtags; #webuildthis, #expanseelectricalco, #craftsman, su marca regional, y marcas de agua adecuadas de la empresa para prevenir el plagio.  Esta publicación regular durante la semana aumentará el tráfico a nuestras páginas y ayudará a construir audiencia seguidora. Todos los empleados pueden seguir esto en Expanse Electrical para Facebook e Instagram. 

  • - La foto ganadora seleccionada por el comité se publicará todos los viernes al mediodía (CST) y el remitente recibirá una tarjeta de regalo de $100. Esto culminará las publicaciones de las semanas en Instagram y Facebook.

  • -La foto ganadora también será publicada en nuestra página de LinkedIn con una pequeña descripción detallada de lo que se estaba haciendo en el lugar de trabajo y que refuerce nuestro enfoque en la calidad y la artesanía.   Nuestros clientes y empleados pueden seguir las publicaciones semanales enfocadas en calidad. Los futuros clientes también podrán acceder a estas publicaciones, ya que son públicas.

 En cuanto a operaciones continuas, después del lanzamiento del Waybook, podríamos incorporar algunas diapositivas en la reunión de Seguridad, destacando especialmente los ganadores semanales del mes anterior y alentar la participación de esta manera. 

 ¿Quien puede presentar?

Todos los empleados de la empresa pueden enviar imágenes o videos; Sin embargo, estamos especialmente interesados en la presentación de nuestros artesanos en el campo que participan en el trabajo que se está presentando.

 Guías de Fotografías y Video

  • No se deben mostrar los nombres de los clientes. (Algunos no quieren su nombre en nuestras imágenes promocionales)

  • El PPE adecuado debe ser exhibido en todo momento.

  • Se debe exhibir el comportamiento profesional que representa a un artesano.

  • Incorporar nuevos logos cuando sea posible.

La participación en la campaña de #webuildthis le da a Expanse Electrical Co. permiso para usar y/o modificar la fotografía, video, u otro medio digital (“foto”) en cualquiera y todas sus publicaciones, incluyendo las publicaciones web, sin otras consideraciones.