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The COVID-19 pandemic has upended life in Southern California, across the country, and around the world in many different ways. This includes the way in which the manufacturing and production of products are undertaken. Manufacturers need to make certain modifications to their production strategies in order to safely and efficiently operate during the coronavirus era.
There exist three primary courses of action manufacturing companies need to take in regard to their overall production strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are:
- Reconfiguring the physical plant of a manufacturing enterprise
- Developing comprehensive strategies for workers
- Crafting and implementing a comprehensive COVID-19 contamination prevention and decontamination regimen
Reconfiguring a Manufacturing Physical Plant
A primary course that needs to be taken as part of a manufacturing company’s production strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic is the reconfiguration of the physical plant. The reality is that a traditional manufacturing setup doesn’t meet the health and safety needs associated with the novel coronavirus pandemic.
There are a pair of important elements associated with reconfiguring a factory or other type of manufacturing location to meet the safety and health needs necessary to protect workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are:
- Factory redesign to satisfy social distancing requirements
- Addition of safety devices to enhance overall worker health and safety
At the heart of manufacturing plant reconfiguration is restructuring the space to allow for social distancing whenever reasonably possible. At the present time, the recommended spacing associated with acceptable social distancing is pegged at six feet between workers. There are infectious disease experts who take the position that spacing should actually be closer to ten feet between workers.
In a manufacturing setting, satisfying social distancing minimums may not be reasonably possible. Thus, in addition to social distancing reconfigurations, a manufacturing business can consider other related strategies. For example, using such tools as plexiglass dividers can be a physical change in a plant or at any other type of business that provides a layer of protection between workers that cannot effectively or reasonably be socially or physically distanced.
Some areas of a manufacturing enterprise might also need to be shuttered altogether, or access to them limited. For example, break rooms, conference rooms, and other zones where people historically congregate for non-production-related purposes should be considered for restriction.
Throughout a manufacturing facility, sanitization stations should be installed. This includes not only at entrances and exits to the plant but at different key or strategic locations throughout the facility.
Strategies for Workers in a Manufacturing Setting
There are a number of strategies that need to be employed in regard to what workers can and cannot do in a manufacturing or other type of business setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to what is presented here in this regard, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, provides an array of supplemental resources that can be helpful to an employer and workers during the novel coronavirus crisis.
In a manufacturing setting, and really at any business facility, strategies for workers begin with a determination on their part to adhere to the safety strategies established for the enterprise. These strategies include everything from adhering to social distancing protocols whenever possible, wearing masks, and diligently practicing personal hygiene (specifically handwashing and the liberal use of sanitizer).
Limitations on the number of people working on the floor of a manufacturing plant, or different types of business, is going to remain in place for the foreseeable feature. In addition to those limitations, a manufacturing company or other type of business will want to give serious consideration to establishing firm worker cohorts. In other words, workers are organized into specific groups. Workers always work within the same cohort and with the same group of individual employees. The cohort approach has been found to be a solid strategy to limit the spread of COVID-19 should someone become infected and bring the virus to work.
Manufacturing and production strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic need to include coronavirus contamination prevention and decontamination regimens. Of course, the underlying objective of everything thus far discussed in this article is to protect workers and others from COVID-19 infection.
The strategies discussed thus far are part of a comprehensive effort manufacturers and other businesses need to implement to prevent coronavirus contamination and the spreading of the disease. In order to ensure that all of the efforts undertaken by a manufacturing or other type of business are most effective, they need to be coordinated and efficiently carried out.
Manufacturing companies and other types of businesses are well served engaging the services of a reputable, experienced coronavirus cleaning and disinfection company to develop a comprehensive contamination prevention regimen.
In addition to the practices discussed thus far, there is another tactic a manufacturer and other businesses need to employ. This involves professional COVID-19 deep cleaning and sanitization on a recurring basis to prevent contamination in the first instance.
No matter how diligent a manufacturing company or other type of business is in taking proactive steps to prevent coronavirus contamination, perfection isn’t possible. The possibility will continue to exist that a manufacturing plant, fulfillment station, or other types of businesses will face the possibility of coronavirus contamination. As a result, a manufacturer or other business needs to have reliable access to a reputable COVID-19 cleaning company.
