Meridian, a US private aviation company with FBO locations at Teterboro airport near New York City and Hayward Executive airport near San Francisco, has been certified by the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) as a GBAC STAR facility. This accreditation is given to those facilities that have established and maintained a cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention programme to minimise risks associated with infectious agents such as COVID-19.

The GBAC programme was designed by ISSA, a trade association for the cleaning industry, to control the risks associated with infectious agents. It is the gold standard for demonstrating adherence to best practices for the cleaning of facilities and employs a rigorous risk-based assessment to tailor cleaning and disinfecting regimens to specific spaces within each facility. In addition, it ensures that a facility's cleaning professionals are specifically trained for outbreak and infectious disease preparation and response.

“We have been following strict protocols throughout the pandemic,” says Steve Chandoha, Meridian president. “This certification and validation of our efforts by outside experts underscores Meridian's commitment to safe operations.”

Meridian's receipt of this certification follows similar actions taken by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In November 2020, it announced that John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia, New York Stewart and Teterboro airports had received the Airport Health Accreditation from Airports Council International (ACI) World and ACI Americas. The recently developed Airport Health Accreditation programme evaluates new health and safety measures and procedures introduced at airports worldwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meridian began working toward its individual FBO accreditation once Teterboro received ACI accreditation. TEB is the first general aviation airport in the world with this accreditation.

The GBAC STAR accreditation is the latest demonstration of Meridian's continued diligence around safety and cleaning. In July 2020, both its Teterboro and Hayward FBO facilities received Safety 1st Clean registration from NATA. The registration recognises Meridian's commitment to following best practices and guidelines from both NATA and the Centers for Disease Control around cleaning, disinfecting and hygiene, as well as ongoing education and training. Conformance to the Safety 1st Clean standard also requires that the organisation have a hazard communication plan in place, which Meridian does as part of its IS-BAH accreditation. Meridian has been a participant in NATA's overall Safety 1st programme for over 20 years.

“We are committed to best practices in everything we do, and our commitment to the highest level of adherence around cleaning and disinfecting is no different,” adds Chandoha. “We felt it was important to demonstrate our conformance and commitment to these exacting standards to our customers, employees and the public at large, and earning these accreditations lets customers know they can expect the best and safest protocols when they come to Meridian.”