march2021 - 24

GROUND SERVICE
PROVIDERS

" As a service company, our goal has continued to be to get our employees back to
work, " Ingle says.
" Our patent-pending PrimeFlightUV
units, ranging from wheelchair and security bin disinfection units to aircraft sprayers are aimed at giving passengers peace
of mind and helping to protect front line
workers as we all work to get the industry
back to pre-COVID levels, " he adds.
An AccuFleet cabin cleaner in
full PPE disinfects an aircraft.
Photo courtesy of AccuFleet

Marietta points out that it's important
for employees to take protection measures
when off their worksite as well. Given
the virus' easily transmissible nature and
despite the best worksite efforts, it can be
easy for an employee to be lax with personal hygiene and pandemic best practices.
Likewise, an employee may encounter
someone else who is lax, and bring in the
virus from the grocery store or their home.
" I would say that, just in general life,
people who are not working aviation, people who aren't working as ground handlers,
PPE in our daily lives with COVID is just so
essential right now. We know COVID is not
done yet. We're hoping that with continued,
as they say, herd immunity and continued
vaccinations, we're going to be able to see
a decrease here, but we're in the throes of
it right now so everyone has got to social
distance, wash hands, wear your masks
out in public every time, no exceptions.
These are critical components right now
that are going to help us to defeat this and
help minimize the cases that are happening
right now, " she says.
" It may be uncomfortable and it may not
be something that everyone wants to do or
enjoys doing right now, but it's essential for
us to get past this. "

The Not so New Normal
The big question, of course, is what is here
to stay? Ingle says that it's still too early to
say for certain what practices and equipment will remain mainstays of the industry
post-pandemic, though he guesses many
are going to stay permanent fixtures.

" It may be
uncomfortable and it
may not be something
that everyone wants to
do or enjoys doing right
now, but it's essential
for us to get past this. "
- Mary Marietta

" We expect that some of these changes
in PPE and cleaning practices to remain for
some time, if not indefinitely. However, it is
still too early to gauge the long-term effects
that COVID-19 will have on our industry
and workplace practices, " he says.
Mantilla estimates that COVID-19 has
changed the aviation industry forever, with
the focus on hygienic best practices and preventative measures now part of its foundation - if even just to ease passengers' fears.
" I would imagine that the effects will
stick with the industry for some time. As a
company we emphasize safety for our team
members. We anticipate that aviation, as
a whole, will require PPE and preventative measures to collectively increase the
visibility of efforts being made to our passengers and customers, " Mantilla explains.
" From our perspective, we plan on
implementing this going forward indefinitely. Even with the vaccine, which we're
of course thrilled about and we're encouraging as many team members as possible to
get vaccinated to keep them and their fellow
team members safe, we still don't foresee
this completely going away for months and
months and months, " says Marietta. " In our
minds, there's going to be no changes in
the near future or the distant future. We
plan on implementing these practices going
forward, period. "

An electrostatic sprayer utilized by AccuFleet.
Photo courtesy of AccuFleet

24 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE

MARCH 2021

march2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of march2021