LONE STAR COMMUNICATIONS ISO CERTIFIES ALL OFFICES AS IT WORKS TO FURTHER ITS COMMITMENT TO QUALITY

For Immediate Release:

06/11/2021

LONE STAR COMMUNICATIONS SUCCESSFULLY ISO CERTIFIES ALL OFFICES AS IT WORKS TO FURTHER ITS COMMITMENT OF PROVIDING HIGH QUALITY

Grand Prairie, TX, June 10, 2021 - Lone Star Communications (LSC) is proud to announce the ISO 9001:2015 certification of all its offices. An ISO 9001:2015 certification is the world’s most recognized quality management system certification, which requires that businesses meet rigorous stipulations of continual improvement to ensure services and products fulfill consumer expectations. The successful ISO 9001:2015 certifications of all offices was led by the Corporate Office in Grand Prairie, Texas which has held a continuous ISO certification since 2003. The Lone Star Communications Houston office, acquired in 2015, received its certification in 2018. The more recently acquired office of Lone Star Communications Arkansas covering locations in North Little Rock, Springdale, Arkansas, and Shreveport, Louisiana was certified as of June 8th, 2021 and the most newly acquired office of Lone Star Communications Central Texas covering locations in Austin, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi, Texas received certification on June 10th, 2021.

The independent auditor was so impressed with the efforts of LSC that in a closing remark he stated: “Your teams work extremely well together. These have been GREAT audits.”

This move, to ensure individual offices and businesses within the LSC companies are certified, is part of a greater strategy Lone Star Communications has implemented to successfully continue its serious commitment of guaranteeing clients enjoy high quality experiences “every time” they deal with Lone Star Communications regardless of location.

“We are pleased the Arkansas and Central Texas offices are now ISO certified which was our goal from day one of the acquisitions. I am proud of our ISO team lead by Patt Bowles, COO Corporate Services, to have executed their plan flawlessly, says Raymond Bailey, President and founder of Lone Star Communications based in Grand Prairie Texas. This brings us one step closer to our ultimate goal of providing a 100% consistent product every time we execute a project.”

ISO standards are established by the International Organization for Standardization, consisting of representatives from several national standards organizations globally, who come to a consensus on quality requirements worldwide. In order to be IS0 9001:2015 certified, an organization must submit documentation that reflects its processes and standards which determine whether the locations are able to provide quality products and services. As Lone Star Communications grows, it is determined to continue to uphold this quality standard through various means, most notably this certification as well as establish new processes to ensure clients have an exceptional experience.

About Lone Star Communications

Lone Star Communications is a dynamic, multi-awarded organization that was founded by Raymond Bailey. Since Lone Star Communications inception in 1991, the primary focus of the organization has always been on quality which resulted in the establishment of its mission phrase, “The Right Product, On Time, First Time, No Exceptions.” Manifesting this motto, daily, through client projects and relations in the Healthcare, Education, and Commercial industries has resulted in Lone Star Communications not only becoming a top Rauland distributor in the nation, but a strong force to be reckoned with in the life safety industry overall. Lone Star Communications has continued working towards this goal, of providing high quality solutions and experiences to clients, by requiring all its business locations establish and maintain procedures that result in heightened quality as well as an increased number of lives saved daily.

For more information about Lone Star Communications, please visit www.lonestarcom.com .

Updates & Mask Policy!

Hello All,

It’s newsletter time again. Where does the time go? It seems like we just sent the newsletter and here we are again. Lone Star is still on track to have a record year and we have everyone to thank for that. We need everyone working and everyone to remain COVID free if Lone Star is going to have the kind of year we have projected. The booking of new business continues to come in thanks to our sales staff in all offices. It’s nice to be back in the building and it is exciting to see the new employees in the hallway. I and some of the other staff, HR, Talent development and others will be making our way into each office over the next few months to see everyone now that the rules have changed for travel and more and more of the employees have been vaccinated. Thank you for doing that, we want everyone safe. Some of this newsletter article is reprinted from my daily email this week and you’ve seen the mask policy. Thank you to those that have asked for clarification of our policies regarding masks and vaccines. It is our sincerest hope that we can get back to normal as soon as possible and all employees as well as your families remain COVID free…for the rest of our lives. We have done very well as a company keeping each other safe and we must continue the vigilance we have had throughout this pandemic.

H-F-S: Hands, continue to wash your hands, it has served us well this far and this is true even if you’ve been fully vaccinated. Face, continue to avoid touching your face and wear face coverings if appropriate, even if fully vaccinated, if you suspect people around you are sick, wear a mask and get away from them quickly. Space, continue to maintain your distance even though you are fully vaccinated.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun-filled weekend. It was nice to have a 3-day weekend, but I am ready for the rain to stop for a while. Where did the sun go, it’s June in Texas, shouldn’t it be 90 and sunny? Same in Arkansas, right? I was in a lot of places in the last few weeks, and I see more and more businesses opening without masks for both the workers and the patrons. Most places welcome you without a mask if you are fully vaccinated. Even the servers in restaurants are going mask-less if they have had their vaccinations. This is a welcome sight, and those that have not received their shots or those that intend not to get the vaccination need to keep wearing their mask in public for now. It’s for the safety of those around you. Lone Star is adopting this same policy in all of its offices. If you are FULLY vaccinated, you no longer need to wear your mask in the public areas in the offices. If you have had one or both shots, but have not completed the waiting period, please wear your mask in the public areas in our offices for a few more weeks until you are considered fully vaccinated. The CDC directs 2 full weeks after your second shot of Moderna or Pfizer and/or after the Johnson & Johnson one dose. Even though you are fully vaccinated, please continue to practice social distancing when possible and we encourage the continued use of hand sanitizers, sprays, and cleaning up commonly touched items after use to prevent the spread of COVID as well as other viruses and bacteria. This has virtually eliminated the flu season this year, let’s keep up the good practice.

This was written by Ron Kruse in Houston and we will adapt and use this in all offices:

“Clients and contractors have individual policies regarding Face Coverings in The Workplace. Some of our clients do have more stringent guidelines for face coverings that we must follow. Your supervisor should be familiar with the policy for your site.

Face Coverings in the Lone Star Offices: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently relaxed many of its COVID-19 safety recommendations for people who are fully vaccinated. Based on the latest CDC guidance, fully vaccinated LSC employees will not need to wear a mask in the office beginning immediately.

The default will be mask on in common areas. However, if you wish to not wear a mask in the office, you will need to give a copy of your CDC vaccine record card to our HR department through the COO or other Executive Team member in your office. If you do not have a COVID-19 vaccine or are not yet fully effective, you will need to continue to wear a mask and practice social distancing until further notice. The HR will share the COVID record with COO and a copy will be placed in your file in the case you need to access a jobsite that needs proof of your vaccination. Proof will only be provided with your approval. Your privacy is of the utmost concern.

You need to meet the requirements for full effectiveness as advised at the time of your shot. “Fully vaccinated” means it has been two weeks since you received the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna or the single dose of Johnson & Johnson.” These shots are still readily available and are free. If you want one, you can get one at any CVS, Walgreens, and other locations. We are also returning to 100% occupancy in all offices on June 21st. This means you should coordinate with your supervisor as soon as possible if you would like to continue to work at home some days. Otherwise, you will be expected to report to our offices Monday by 8:00 am as normal. Some of you may be more productive working from home part of the time, and I encourage you to continue that practice. But, to do so you will need to meet the criteria of the LSC work from home policy and get the agreement in place.

As we come out of the pandemic, which is far from over worldwide but better here in the U S, we are discontinuing paying anyone while on “quarantine” or while sick from COVID unless you have been vaccinated. Yes, there is still a chance you can get COVID even after being vaccinated, especially with the number of new variants. If you have done everything you can do to avoid getting COVID, which includes being vaccinated, then Lone Star will still cover your pay in 2021. If you choose not to get vaccinated, without a valid medical reason, you are on your own. The company will give you every opportunity to keep yourself safe including requiring others that have not been vaccinated to continue to wear masks and allow you to get your COVID shot during company time. However, if you choose not to get vaccinated and you get sick, you will need to use PTO or take time off without pay. Please do not come into the office if you are sick. It is our sincere hope nobody gets sick, and this becomes a non-issue. Lone Star is not mandating you get vaccinated, but some customers are requiring that you are vaccinated before you are allowed on their sites and we will follow our customers rules.

Again, COVID shots are readily available and are free and that is the cheapest insurance you can get right now! If you want one, you can get one at any CVS, Walgreens, and other locations. You will have to show your insurance card, but there will be no cost to you or our insurance. Those without insurance just simply need to show they don’t have insurance and they, too, can get it for free. Tell all of your friends.

That’s it for now. I will be sending updates each week and will share any shout-outs I receive with everyone. Be safe and keep your families safe. H-F-S, Ray

-Ray Bailey, President

Riding Along

Since March 29, I have had the opportunity to visit jobsites with Houston Project Superintendents Jeovanny Alvarenga, Bryan Peltier, and Nicole Flores. These visits are named ride-along on my calendar and they occur three times per month. I just go to whatever job site Jeovanny, Bryan, or Nicole is visiting. I listen-in and see what they see and just be part of a normal workday. I got the opportunity to see Houston technicians Nicholas Batres, Rene Sandoval, Leo Martinez, Luis Muchado, Andre Hernandez, Javier Solis, Alex Sanchez, Ernie Chavez, and Marco Hueras on various site visits over the last eight weeks.

I mainly observe and ask a few questions. When walking Houston Methodist Woodlands (Vaughn Const.) with Leo Martinez, I asked about elevator waiting time which can be significant on some days. Leo also explained about protection of work completed. With so many trades on the floor, he needs to go back daily to view work completed to verify and sometimes fix if our work was disturbed by other trades. When visiting with Marco up at Houston Methodist Fondren 11, he showed me how the electrical contractor being four days behind can hold-up the show. I asked about an exposed circuit board in a shower area that was awaiting grout from the tile installer. It is easy to bypass with so many devices, but there are some things that are more easily observed from an outside perspective.

My main reason for scheduling these trips is to keep connected to our product service and delivery. In my previous role in the engineering group, I would be out in the field a couple times of month either assisting in troubleshooting, commissioning, or walking a site. As we became a more mature company my time in the field was needed less. My skill set is not needed in the field, but I want to see what's going on at the site to get the full picture what's happening at Lone Star Communications. One part of the picture that is clear is our purpose: keeping our communities safe. I saw the work we were doing in both challenging and standard conditions, and it's clear that everybody takes what we do pretty seriously. I see pride in workmanship and care to see the system down the line for programming, commissioning, and beneficial client use. None of that can happen until you establish a pathway and get the cable plant from controller to endpoint.

My visits proved that we continue to look toward continual improvement. One example was superintendents working with Philip Cerna to obtain additional Nitroset guns (https://www.nitroset.com/product/tool) to deal with how spread out we are. Also, our superintendents were chasing the few wire pulling ceiling end-caps in an attempt to get them to the right projects. We had a precious few available and some in disrepair, stolen, or misplaced. Phillip placed an order for each lead technician to have two on their truck. This is not a cheap method, but working inefficiently costs us more.

I first stepped onto a jobsite as a communications apprentice in 1981. I spent time in tight spaces and those memories came back as Javier Solis brought me up to a wire pull origination location above a clinic at the VA Houston. I discovered that you need to be a gymnast to be up in the VA interstitial space. I also rediscovered that while much of the technology has changed, the basic project premise has not changed in all these years. Understand your scope and surroundings and manage your part of the project all the way to the end. Now back to my stretching so I can do the limbo on my next visit to the Houston VA interstitial.

-Ronald F. Kruse, Chief Operating Officer, Houston