YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Roofing contractor Boak & Sons Inc. took additional steps to ensure the health of its employees by renovating its Youngstown, Ohio offices with pandemic-related safety in mind.

With the ongoing pandemic changing how everyone does business, social distancing is becoming more important than ever, so companies with multiple employees are doing their best to keep everyone safely spread out. When the pandemic first started back in 2020, the company closed its doors and only took emergency repair calls with a very limited staff. Once the stay-at-home order was lifted, the company decided to take further safety precautions and installed plexiglass barriers between all cubicle spaces to help mitigate the risk of spreading the virus.

With an increase in scheduling, Sam Boak, president and founder of Boak & Sons, Inc., realized he would need to add more employees to his team to help manage the influx of projects. To ensure employees were given ample space to safely conduct their daily tasks, Boak had the lower lobby and offices remodeled.

Boak & Sons, Inc. has just over 25 office employees that range in departments from marketing and accounting to estimating and project management. Originally, the first floor contained the lobby area, reception, and six offices. The second floor has five individual offices, a conference room and a large cubicle-style office space where roughly seven employees reside. To ensure all employees had a safe space to work, a portion of the lobby area that was previously unused was converted into an office large enough for two employees. Boak’s office was also divided into two new individual offices. This helped to give employees plenty of working space to safely spread out and lower the risk of spreading COVID.

“Safety is the number one rule here at Boak & Sons,” said Boak. “Keeping my office staff healthy is crucial because they’re the ones who set up these jobs. Without them in the office, it would be much harder for us to provide the communication needed to get these jobs done. Creating more office space in the building helps keep everyone safe, which is our top priority.”