Due to the worldwide COVID-19 coronavirus situation, employers are looking for ways to protect their employees from the infection. In some companies it is possible that employees work from home to protect themselves and others. However, for workers in manufacturing plants this is often not possible. Therefore, precautions must be taken to protect them at their workplace and to ensure that production and quality inspection continues. This is especially important in the food industry to avoid bottlenecks and delivery problems.
We have collected some recommendations on how you as an employer can protect your workers in manufacturing plants:
Increased cleaning and sanitizing
It is known that the coronavirus is passed on from person-to-person through direct contact with an infected person's body fluids. Therefore, increased cleaning and disinfection of common areas and touch points is of the utmost importance. Since the virus can remain on surfaces even for a short time, it is important that machines are cleaned regularly. Production and product inspection equipment should therefore be easy to clean to ensure that viruses and bacteria are completely removed. This is not only essential for the health of the employees, but also for the quality of the products.
Health and safety education
Wash your hands often, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, stay at home if you are sick: Good hygiene is important not only to prevent infection with the coronavirus, but also to avoid getting sick in general. By now we should all know these precautions, but sometimes it takes further reminders. Therefore, continuous health and safety education in the company are essential.
Break and cleaning schedules
There are certain times when it gets particularly crowded in plants. For example, during the lunch break in the canteen. Splitting the lunch break into different shifts ensures that there are no longer too many employees in a confined space at the same time. In addition, it should be ensured that the places where the employees are located are cleaned regularly. Companies should therefore consider whether their cleaning schedules need to be revised.
Remote product inspection management process
These days we have to rely on digital solutions more than ever, especially when it comes to ensuring the continuity of production and product quality with a reduced workforce. A good way to monitor your inspection equipment remotely is to use data management software like ProdX. This allows you to control your entire product inspection management process from a single point or from multiple remote locations, eliminating the need for time-consuming production line patrols to gather data.
This article is reproduced with permission from Food Safety Exchange
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