The following are some best tips that our staff has found to help employers and workplaces deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
If someone at your workplace comes down with COVID-19, a thorough cleaning and disinfection is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Areas to be cleansed should be closed off and well ventilated. If possible, wait up to 24 hours before beginning cleaning and disinfection. See recommended cleaning procedures below.
Worker training is something that can be easy to ignore in a crisis situation. OSHA could fine companies for not properly training workers on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and infectious disease control protocols. While there is no specific OSHA regulation written specifically for COVID-19, OSHA has released general guidance on the situation. And there are a number of areas that code apply including the General Duty Clause (codified at Section 5(a)(1) of OSH Act), Personal Protective Equipment Standard (29 CFR 1910), Bloodborne Pathogens Standard (29 CFR 1910.1030), HazCom Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200), OSHA’s Sanitation Standard (29 CFR 1910.141) and possibly the Recordkeeping Requirements (29 CFR 1910.1904).
Create social distancing between work stations or employees groups. This may include reducing workers on a shift, staggering break or lunch times, using small work teams, etc. Consider going from one to two shifts. Or you can take other actions to reduce the number of people in a plant at any given time.
Given that you may be down some workers, cross-training is important right now for machinery operators and even supervisors. Who would you be hurting if he or she couldn’t come into the plant for a week or more? Make sure that you have some redundancies.
If you are requiring employees to take actions to deal with COVID-19, you need to provide training to all affected workers. Ensure that training covers languages used in your facility. Document training so that you have proof.
Any COVID-19 safety practices should be continued as long as the contagion is a serious threat. You don’t want to get serious about cleaning and contagion prevention for a month and then let workers blow it off.
Some companies are instituting cleaning procedures between shifts/operators for machinery controls and work stations. This helps ensure that one worker will not infect another.
Commonly used areas, such as bathrooms and kitchens or break rooms, can also lead to virus transmission. These areas should be regularly cleaned and monitored. Appropriate social distancing should be maintained for these areas where employees tend to congregate.
If you operate a facility in a prison or use prison labor, be aware that there is significant concern about rapid transmission in confined populations. You may want to discontinue using this labor source for the time being or at least separate from other workers.
Many pallet companies are working to develop safety stock where possible in case a facility must be shut down for cleaning or due to lack of workers. Pallet customers should also buy some safety stock right now where possible.
Prepare your workers for working remotely if possible. This may involve instituting new server technology or cloud-based solutions.
Companies should implement workplace controls for COVID-19 contagion. The three areas that should be considered are: engineering controls, administrative controls and PPE.
Due to economic uncertainty and hardship for some pallet companies, contact your bank to find out about finacing options during the pandemic. This may include: a line of credit, the Paycheck Protection Program from the CARES Act, SBA loans, etc.
