INFORMATION DOWNLOAD: HOW MOLD BUILDERS ARE MOVING FORWARD DURING COVID-19 Compiled by Dianna Brodine, managing editor, The American Mold Builder
Tits members where member company representatives can discuss
he AMBA has been offering roundtable discussion webinars for
issues related to the current pandemic with their peers as businesses begin to ramp up production and bring employees back on site. Here, a brief glimpse is provided into the conversations happening between mold builders across the country. Member companies are not identified in this article.
Q.
HOW ARE YOU SCREENING EMPLOYEE HEALTH? WHAT SAFETY MEASURES ARE IN PLACE? • We asked our employees to complete a five-question questionnaire, with questions based on recommendations from the CDC, such as have you been exposed to people who have traveled internationally, are you experiencing flu-like symptoms, etc. We are verifying their survey responses every day. One entrance has been designated for employees, and we are taking temperatures, which is now mandated by our governor. • We are taking employee temps before they clock in, have made it mandatory for everyone to wear masks and are encouraging anyone who is sick to stay home. We have one person (foreman or plant manager) taking temps in each building. Also have a checklist so we know who is in the buildings each day and that their temps were taken. • Masks are available, but not mandatory. However, we need to start taking temps. We have varying start times, and there’s no one up front right now when people come in, so it’s a logistics issue as to how that is implemented. • We have masks available, but not mandatory. We haven’t done anything formal with the temperature-taking yet. We also are following the CDC-recommended precautionary cleaning in high-touch or high-traffic areas. • We have made masks mandatory. We also have restricted visitors until June and no one is going out to visit customers. There is no temperature testing right now, but every employee has the HR manager’s cell phone number and all employees have been told to stay home and call if they are ill or have been exposed. • We are mandating face masks, so we’ve provided reusable, washable face masks to all employees. • We’re treating masks like all of our other PPE, where in certain areas of the plant it is mandated that masks are worn and in other areas it is not. 40
the american MOLD BUILDER | Issue 2 2020
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Our facility put yellow tape on the floor to remind everyone about maintaining safe distances. We also have put Xs at the entrance to offices to stop employees from walking into those spaces, and we have measured appropriate distances between chairs in the break room.
Q.
HOW WILL YOU BRING OLDER WORKERS (OR EMPLOYEES IN GENERAL) BACK AND KEEP THEM SAFE? • Some workers are able to work remotely, so we keep them there. Also, we have one employee nearing retirement and we are working out an alternative position that will enable him to minimize interaction. We also are offering a second shift that a lot of people are taking advantage of – both those who are older and people who suddenly had children at home when school was cancelled. We want to make sure everyone feels safe and comfortable coming to work. • We staggered shifts so that fewer employees are working each shift. Also, we changed our schedule so more people are working four 10-hour shifts and then spread those employees out over six days. • We went from four 10-hour shifts to two different cells – so now one cell works M,T,W and the other works Th-F-S. This gives us less people on each shift, less people co-mingling. It’s been a difficult process, but this is our third week and we’re starting to get the bugs out. It’s all about keeping people safe, so we’re doing the best we can. I’m not sure we’ll go back to our old shift schedule. Eventually, we’ll be running more hours – we are more efficient now, but we don’t have the bodies to be as efficient as we can. We may stay in this setup and hire more employees down the road.
Q.
HOW ARE YOU CLEANING / DISINFECTING? • Disinfection materials are available at each station. We’re lucky in that we already have some distance between each work station, and we’re asking the operators to clean and disinfect their own stations. • We have gotten multiple quotes for outside cleaning services, but haven’t implemented anything yet. • We’re using an internal person working full-time. They have a checklist that goes hour-by-hour as to which high-touch areas and which parts of the shop to clean at specific times.
