Vector Security Networks Provides Re-Entry Solutions for Businesses
Preparing to Return After COVID-19

Security and network solutions support safety of employees, customers, workspaces

As multi-site businesses begin re-entry into a "new normal" stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, Vector Security Networks, a division of Vector Security, Inc., provides solutions to help ensure the safety, security and wellness of employees, customers and workspaces, while adhering to government regulations and new requirements.

"The COVID-19 pandemic will drive short- and long-term disruption in our lives and in our organizations even after the initial outbreak has been contained," said Michael Grady, Executive Vice President for Vector Security Networks. "Preparing for re-entry into the 'new normal' will be an overwhelming task, with numerous decisions that businesses need to make along the way...but Vector Security Networks can help."

Vector Security Networks' re-entry solutions address three critical areas:

1. Ensuring buildings are safe, secure, and ready.
2. Creating and monitoring effective guidelines and adjustments to workspaces.
3. Promoting the health and wellness of employees and customers. vectorsecurity.com


Restoring Location Physical Security Before Reopening

Preparing for What Lies Ahead

If you are turning your focus toward a strategy to reopen locations, there are several challenges and adaptations that "non-essential" businesses will have to address and adopt in store environments as we emerge from this crisis. One important thing that can be easily overlooked is keyed access. Some employees have keys and may not be returning when the time to reopen comes. Losing employees due to the current crisis is difficult for everyone, but it also represents an exposure to additional loss for the business. Any missing key means a facility's security is in jeopardy and the potential for loss exists, especially if keys are not restricted.

Read more in today's Vendor Spotlight below.
 

---

There's More Webinars & Podcasts Than Ever Before

It's Like O'Hare Airport at 7:00 am Morning Rush Hour

In one week we counted 6 webinars and podcasts, and it's continuing. And rightfully so!

What a perfect time for the non-essential retail executives to learn and explore new technologies, new solution providers, and learn new interviewing techniques.

This is a great educational time during such a traumatic time this is. The question is; with all of the stress and being at home, how much are the participants learning and absorbing. Hopefully the same as in normal times. But that's not probably reality right now according to the experts. But the fact is we are learning and growing and that's one positive that can come out of all of this.

So get involved, listen in on the webinars and podcasts. Pick somewhere you don't know the technology, the organization or executives and expand your knowledge base. Because that will help you long term and you never know what piece of information may be the key to one of your challenges or issues in the future. And although the speakers didn't meet you, you certainly got to know them and you can connect later and expand your network.

If you're a solution provider and haven't done one or two you should seriously consider it. You'll never have a better time then right now. Even a simple company introduction and explanation of what you deliver to the market just may go over well. As we're hearing good numbers with attendees and with on-demand.

It's a great educational time and staying up to date is critical. Especially now!

Just a thought -Gus Downing

The D&D Daily is Launching a Webinar & Podcast Monthly Schedule for May
To be published and linked to the Daily each day. Let us know about yours and we'll post it for free!
 

---

Coronavirus Update: April 28

US: Over 1 Million Cases - 57K Dead - 140K Recovered
Worldwide: Over 3.1 Million Cases - 213K Dead - 938K Recovered

U.S. Law Enforcement Deaths | NYPD Deaths: 33
Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 79+

Coronavirus Map: Infected - U.S. Leads the World


 

---

Nation's Biggest Mall Operator - 204 Locations Opening Next Week!
Simon plans mall re-openings with traffic limits, shorter hours & safety protocols
Simon Property Group plans to begin the "phased reopening" of its mall properties soon, contingent on state and regional closure orders and criteria issued by the federal government.

Simon plans to open five malls in Arkansas, Oklahoma and South Carolina on May 1, with more malls to follow in the first weeks of May, per the memo.  Opening May 4th in 10 states.

As it opens malls, Simon is rolling out COVID-19 safety protocols, including limited hours, occupancy limits, spacing configurations to promote social distancing, employee screening for symptoms, employee training and face mask requirements for workers, among several other steps.

As it reopens properties, Simon is limiting foot traffic to 1 person per 50 square feet for properties as a whole. To enforce that, the mall operator will restrict how many entrances are open and create queues to enter.

It's also reshaping traffic flow, rearranging furniture in food courts to space people further apart, shutting some sinks and urinals for the same reason, and closing down high traffic areas like drinking fountains and valet stations.

Along with all of those steps, to allow time for disinfecting the mall operator said it will limit mall hours to 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

Operations won't be returning to the pre-pandemic "normal" for the foreseeable future.

"As you can see, we have rigorously analyzed the shopping experience in our properties and have developed directions and safety measures and protocols to provide to our employees, shoppers and tenant employees to help prevent further spread of the COVID-19 virus when we reopen and get back to business," Rulli said in the memo. For the protocols to work, he added, "we need the cooperation and participation of our tenants."

Simon Property Group owns 204 properties in the U.S., consisting of 106 malls, 69 Premium Outlets, 14 Mills, 4 lifestyle centers, and 11 other properties in 37 states and Puerto Rico. They closed all domestic properties on March 18th. cnbc.com retaildive.com

Retailers Announce Goal of 1,000 Testing Locations By End of May
President Donald Trump doubled down Monday on an effort to enlist major retailers to set up drive-through coronavirus testing locations around the country

"Testing is not going to be a problem at all," Trump said Monday, before inviting the CEOs of CVS, Walmart, Walgreens and Rite Aid to the podium to describe their plans to scale up the nasal-swabbing stations.

Since March 13th, the participating retail giants -- who boast a combined 28,903 store locations across the country -- have only launched 69 drive-thru testing sites.

The entire effort has had to move at a breakneck pace. Walmart Executive Vice President Dan Bartlett wrote in a blog Monday; "Because none of this was the traditional role of a retailer, we pieced together how to run a testing site in the middle of a pandemic using two main principles to guide us: make sure everyone on site is safe; and provide a quality test." abcnews.go.com

COVID-19 Creates 46,000 New Security Jobs
G4S Hiring 15,000 Employees in Response to COVID-19

When considering Allied Universal's hiring 30,000 and Securitas hiring 1,000 in California

G4S, a global integrated security company, today announced it is looking to hire more than 15,000 new team members across the U.S. over the next two months in response to increased demand from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Offering permanent, full-time positions with competitive salary and benefits, priority hiring markets for G4S include: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco/Sacramento, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and West Palm Beach.

Security officer and site supervisor positions span a variety of industries such as healthcare, government, finance, technology, commercial and private properties.

When possible - unless mandated by state licensing and screening requirements - G4S is leveraging a virtual interview process, including hiring and training. Following CDC guidelines, the company also provides employees with the necessary protective gear and training to ensure they are protected against COVID-19, plus free access to Doctor on Demand (a tele-medicine offering). sdmmag.com

Security Guards Say Their Companies Aren't Providing the PPE They Need

Security officer who tested positive for COVID-19 files lawsuit against employer

Carl Dawson a security officer said that he became ill in early April from the COVID-19 virus after his employer, a large contract security company in Illinois, refused to equip him and three other security officers working at a grocery store with personal protective equipment even though the company told the store manager that they would. Dawson said that he and at least one other security officer who was working at an office building prior to the start of the pandemic, tested positive for the virus and were hospitalized for more than a week. Both have recovered but say that they are filing a lawsuit against their former employer.

On April 11th, 143 security employees working on the frontline of the pandemic responded to a Private Officer International survey saying that they had not been issued PPE even though they are working within feet and sometimes inches of people, sometimes brushing up against each other as they stand in lines at the register or in the aisles.

Since that survey, Private Officer has heard from 647 other contract and proprietary security officers asking for assistance with protective gear, some saying that they were quitting if none was issued by the end of the week.

Our staff, association members and social media followers have been conducting dozens of cursory reviews of grocery stores, pharmacies, government buildings, courthouses and transit centers and have found only 1 in every 10 locations had equipped employees and security officers with some form of protective gear. privateofficer.com

Learning from the First Coronavirus Wave Will Be Critical
Former high-level public safety officials who took part in a webinar discussed the failures during the initial response of the coronavirus and the importance of correcting those errors during the summer.

State and local governments were caught off guard by the coronavirus, but need to ramp up with lessons learned from the last several weeks to be prepared for a second wave. That was a message shared by three former high-level public safety officials in a webinar last Thursday.

"This was not unforeseeable," said former U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff, during Flattening the Curve - Lessons Learned During COVID-19 and the Future of Public Safety, a webinar by Carbyne.

Chertoff said that while he was at DHS, the department - along with the Department of Health and Human Services and scientists - published a "very detailed" playbook about concerns of a spread of the H1N1 virus. The plan detailed who has what authority, roles people would assume and the need to have a stockpile of equipment that could be used for diagnostic or testing purposes. govtech.com

OSHA's 'Workers Exposure Risk to COVID-19'
Retail Workers Considered "Medium Exposure Risk"
Worker risk of occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, during an outbreak may depend in part on the industry type and need for contact within 6 feet of people known to have, or suspected of having, COVID-19.

OSHA has divided job tasks into four risk exposure levels, as shown below. Most American workers will likely fall in the lower exposure risk (caution) or medium exposure risk levels.

MEDIUM EXPOSURE RISK
Jobs that require frequent/close contact with people who may be infected, but who are not known or suspected patients. Workers in this category include:

• Those who may have contact with the general public (e.g., schools, high-population-density work environments, some high-volume retail settings), including individuals returning from locations with widespread COVID-19 transmission.

For more information, see the Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19.

Retailers' $20 Billion Monthly Rental Tab
Retail Tenants, Landlords Clash Over Proposed Pandemic Rent Clauses

Tenants are asking for clauses that give them rent relief during a pandemic, landlords and tenant lawyers say

Some retail tenants are aiming to rewrite their leases to include pandemic escape clauses and other additional forms of relief, setting up a showdown with landlords who oppose these measures.

Most retail leases limit a tenant's ability to claim a rent abatement based on business interruption or force majeure clauses, which either exclude pandemics or don't relieve a tenant from paying rent. Tenant lawyers say they are insisting these clauses become a part of new leases.

"If I'm representing a tenant, I'm going to ask for a clause that says the tenant doesn't have to pay rent if the government orders a shutdown due to a health crisis," said Ross Yustein, chair of law firm Kleinberg Kaplan's real estate group.

Discount retailer Five Below Inc., for one, sent letters to landlords saying it will withhold rent as long as its stores remain closed.

"Until all applicable orders are lifted, the country is no longer in a National Emergency, and it is safe for Five Below to reopen to its customers, associates and communities, Five Below will not be paying its monthly rent," an April letter said. wsj.com

Kohl's, Macy's, Gap, Belk Are Among The Retailers Delaying Payments To Their Suppliers
Landlords and employees are not the only people getting stiffed by retailers desperate to conserve whatever cash they can get their hands on.

They are now also telling their suppliers the check is most certainly not in the mail.

And now, they've dropped the third shoe: They are simply not paying for goods already delivered and accepted, telling their vendors they have unilaterally extended the payment terms out from the standard net-30 days to 60 or 90 days. Some are now going even further, with reports saying they won't pay their bills for as long as 120 or even 180 days. For those who are calendar-challenged, that's half a year-and counting. forbes.com

"Retail-To-Go" New Catch Phrase
Texas malls open for curbside pick-up
North Star Mall in San Antonio, where each retailer was assigned a dedicated number of spaces in the parking lot.

California Gov Says State "Weeks, Not Months" Away From Modifying Stay-At-Home


The DOJ's Task Force Warned About This: 1st Hoarding Charge
Tons of sanitizer: New York retailer charged with hoarding
disposable masks, gowns
Federal prosecutors charged a New York retailer Friday with hoarding tons of disposable masks, surgical gowns and hand sanitizer in a Long Island warehouse and selling the items at huge markups.

Amardeep "Bobby" Singh, 45, was charged with violating the Defense Production Act of 1950 in what authorities described as the first such prosecution during the coronavirus pandemic.

Singh sells sneakers and apparel at his Plainview store, prosecutors said, but dedicated a new section last month to "COVID-19 Essentials," including N95 masks, face shields, gloves and disinfecting products.

In late March and early April, authorities said, Singh stockpiled more than 1.6 tons of disposable masks; 2.2 tons of surgical gowns; 1.8 tons of hand sanitizer and seven shipments of digital thermometers.

Authorities said Singh marketed the products on social media and continued selling them even after he received a cease-and-desist letter from the New York Attorney General's Office, which called his pricing "unconscionably excessive."  usatoday.com

Malls Rank Lowest in Consumers Feeling Safe Shopping
Study: Consumers Feel Safer Shopping In Grocery And Drug Stores
A recent study by First Insight unveils consumer sentiment around feelings of safety when visiting several store formats during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to First Insight, the majority of consumers surveyed would feel safest shopping in grocery stores (54 percent) and drug store chains (50 percent). Forty-five percent of consumers would feel safe shopping at big box retailers, and 43 percent saying the same when shopping at local small businesses and warehouse clubs, respectively. Malls were ranked lowest with only 33 percent of respondents saying they would feel safe shopping in these locations.

"As retail visits expand past essential retail like grocery and drug stores, other retailers, and malls in particular, need to be thinking of ways to inspire a sense of safety for consumers, and it will need to go beyond offering gloves and masks at the door. It's also likely that retailers will see more men in-store than women, and they should consider adjusting inventory to target these shoppers." theshelbyreport.com

Green Bay: JBS Meat Packing Plant Closed Indefinitely
Wisconsin's Largest COVID-19 Outbreak - 189 Workers
OSHA investigating the outbreaks at the JBS and American Foods Group plants after worker rights group filed complaints. Voces asked for both companies to provide masks, ensure employees can practice social distancing and inform workers about positive cases.  greenbaypressgazette.com

From SHRM: Guidelines to Set for Video Meetings

Daily use of Webex has jumped 500%

How to dress, what makes the best background for virtual meetings and how to overcome meeting fatigue.

Set Expectations for Employees' Appearances
"If you have virtual client meetings with people from outside your company, go with something more professional at least from the waist up." (Editor's Note: Just don't let them see your PJs.)

Check Out What's in Your Background
Avoid high-traffic areas frequented by family members. Dogs barking is really bad - so set up your pets for success.

Fight Fatigue
Time boxing, a theory from the agile methodology to break up the day. Set a specific period of time to work toward a goal. Stop and evaluate your work at the end of the time limit; don't push on to finish the task. This creates a natural break to pause a meeting, take a walk (especially after lunch), or just get up and move around. shrm.org

Editor's Suggestions: In my opinion, web meetings will become the preferred way to have meetings internally and to meet external executives and partners.

- See Amazon Marketplace's new requirement in e-commerce column today by the way.

- Keep your cam at eye level. No peering down or up - as both send opposite messages, both of which are not good.

- Yawning is the absolute worst thing you can ever do on cam. If you feel one coming, drop like a rock and don't let them see you sweat.

- Make great eye contact, even on cam, and pretend you're only talking to one person - only one person. It just makes it easier on your nerves and on your presentation.

- Most of all - be sincere and connect with people - that's right, connect with people online over your cam.

- Be seen occasionally taking notes. As it's actually a compliment to the speaker. Not a lot of them - just an occasional interesting note. Something that will remind you of the speaker and the topic.

Quite frankly this form of meeting is going to skyrocket and will eventually replace most face to face meetings of external partners and internal commuters. I know one CEO who ran his multi-billion dollar retailer this way. You need to develop these skills to be very effective at it. It will end up being the preferred and or forced method of meeting. Just some thoughts. -Gus Downing

NYPD Burglaries Up 25% (936/749), Murders Up 55.6% Last 28 Days

Labor Department Is Now Enforcing Coronavirus Paid-Leave Rules

JetBlue Will Require All Customers to Wear Face Masks