The Coronavirus: Tips to Keep Manufacturing Employees Safe

Manufacturing is a type of work that does not provide a natural work-from-home option. Shops and plants are still producing, and employees are still at work in these facilities. However, steps can be taken to guard against coronavirus transmission in these sites. Jason Ray, co-founder and CEO of Paperless Parts Inc. (software for quoting and shop communication) sent me this list of key steps shops should take (if they haven’t already done so) to help ensure employees are safe:

• Restrict interactions between employees. Enforce social distancing.
• Put time between shifts. One hour at least.
• Sanitize the workspace. Encourage stringent personal hygiene.
• Remove non-essential personnel from the front office and have them work from home.

He also mentioned that some of his customers are experiencing interruptions in operations and have reached out to Paperless Parts to help identify job shops that can support their production. “We have started making these connections for them by asking other customers if they can take work from shops in need of assistance. The staff here has a good sense of how to match the shops in need with others that have the right capabilities and capacity,” he says.

There is a good point here. There’s lots of help out there but think creatively. Who can help my shop? It might be a customer, a supplier, even a friendly competitor. How can my shop help other shops? Reach out and be generous. This isn’t business as usual, but it is sound business all the same.