Technology Tip
Dave Pelland has extensive experience covering the business use of technology, networking and communications tools by companies of all sizes. Dave's editorial and corporate experience includes more than 10 years editing an electronic technology and communications industry newsletter for a global professional services firm.

Rearranging Your Plant to Promote Distancing

Rearranging Your Plant to Promote Distancing

As states and cities relax pandemic-related restrictions on conducting businesses, small manufacturing plants and machine shops are taking prudent measures to help reduce the potential spread of the novel coronavirus within their facilities.

While the physical size of a facility can make measures such as social distancing challenging, business owners can change the location of equipment, provide protective gear, stagger work hours, implement stringent cleaning protocols to help reduce virus-related risks among their workforce.

These measures will likely result in reduced efficiency and higher operating expenses for the near-term future. The added costs from this are part of the necessary steps needed to comply with health-related guidance as well as state or local governmental mandates on business openings and operations.

Some of the measures that health officials recommend include:

Try to keep employees at least six feet away from each other as much as possible.

This can be challenging in a facility where pieces of equipment are typically placed next to each other to promote productivity and efficiency. Some ways to accomplish spreading can include:

  • Moving machines further apart
  • Installing plastic shields or similar barriers between workstations
  • Staggering work shifts so everyone isn’t coming and going at the same time
  • Adding outside tents for employee breaks
  • Installing shields or partitions in breakrooms or eating areas

Increase cleaning and disinfection frequency in shared workspaces.

Cleaning services are going beyond traditional sweeping and trash removal to include disinfecting restrooms, breakrooms and other shared spaces on at least a daily basis. Similarly, the company should disinfect hand tools after each shift.

Provide needed personal protective equipment (PPE).

Check the websites of federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for guidance about job-appropriate PPE such as face shields or respirators. In addition to recommendations about the types of PPE workers should have, you’ll see information about using the PPE effectively, as well as how to put it on and remove it without causing contamination. If you were providing PPE before the coronavirus, you’re probably seeing post-pandemic sticker shock as the prices rise dramatically.

Promote COVID-related education.

Take advantage of training materials offered by federal and state health officials to help workers understand the importance of social distancing, face coverings, PPE, staying home when sick, and other preventative measures.

Promote hand hygiene.

Increase the number of hand sanitizing stations in the workplace, and make sure workers have ready access to running water, soap, paper towels and no-touch trash cans. Make sure your hand sanitizer includes at least 60 percent alcohol.

Consider screening employees for potential COVID symptoms.

While screening isn’t failsafe, basic measures such as temperature scans can help reduce the risk of someone coming to work while exhibiting unwanted symptoms. COVID or not, people shouldn’t be in your workplace if they have a fever, and a high temperature reading provides an objective guideline for sending someone home.

Examine your sick leave policies.

Your sick leave policies should be flexible and allow sick employees to stay away from co-workers. You may also want to consider policies that account for employees who need to stay home with children if there are school or childcare closures, or to care for sick family members.

While none of these measures guarantee a safe work facility by themselves, together they provide prudent measures to help you restore and maintain operations with a reasonable degree of safety.


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