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Will best practices for COVID-19 shop safety work when fabricators come back?

Metal fabrication and coronavirus

COVID-19 has forced metal fabricators to think more about safety on the shop floor. Here are some guidelines for those still working and those waiting to return to work. Getty Images

Most metal fabricators are caught in the present, trying to get parts out by promised delivery times. Even in days of the coronavirus, that hasn’t changed, but the focus is now on vital parts for things like ventilators or production of something totally different, like face shields.

What has changed is that most fab shops around the U.S. aren’t operating near full capacity. Others are working with skeletal staffs, a result of a desire to keep employees safe and a slowdown in the economy. Still others have shut their doors and even announced layoffs. Sure, metal fabricators in the handful of states where stay-at-home orders weren’t given are operating as if it were business as usually, but that’s not the norm across the U.S.

The shops that are operating have taken steps, as described in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019. Of course, this works really well when only a small fraction of the overall workforce is in the shop.

Having said that, let’s just go over what shops are doing to keep people safe.

Sick People Stay Home

It sounds like a no-brainer, but some people feel obligated to show up even when they might feel sick. That’s not acceptable anymore as those symptoms may be a warning that the person is carrying the deadly and contagious coronavirus.

What about those that are asymptomatic? Until there is widespread testing for the coronavirus, people just have to go about their lives using common sense and living with this reality. However, if an employee lives or has come in contact with someone that has or has had the coronavirus, he or she should let management know, as that individual is very much likely to have been exposed to the virus.

If an employee does show up with symptoms, such as a fever, cough, or shortness of breath, a shop needs to isolate them immediately and note who that individual came in contact with. Ideally, a process of some sort has been formulated as to where the person should go and who should interact with him or her. In the end, that employee needs to be sent home.

Practicing Social Distancing, If Possible

If front-office workers can work from home, they should be given that opportunity. Obviously shop floor employees can’t bring the laser cutting machine home with them, but customers service, administrative, estimating, and maybe even part designers might be able to fulfill their roles while out of the office.

If at all possible, a company should try to avoid shifts that overlap to avoid the mixing of a large group of people. For example, Burloak Technologies, a division of Samuel, Son & Co. Ltd., has two shifts working that don't overlap.

In the shop, large gatherings should be avoided, and workers should stay approximately 6 ft. from each other. Fortunately, fab shops typically don’t have employees right on top of each other given the size of the equipment they work with or the size of the fabrications. This in-shop social distancing is easy to pull off, unless the company is heavily involved in assembly operations. That requires a discussion about how to proceed.

And those regularly scheduled group meetings to keep everyone on the same page? They are canceled for the time being. A tele- or video-conference works just as well.

Keeping It Clean

Protocase, a Canada operation if Sydney, N.S., is doing what so many other shops are doing: cleaning like the parents are coming to visit your first apartment. In fact, the company dedicates time during the day when they actively wipe down work areas with disinfectant wipes.

The CDC is especially interested in having businesses clean and disinfect surfaces such as workstations, keyboard, telephones, handrails, and doorknobs. Most household disinfectants will do the job. This goes for work areas both in an office and on the shop floor.

The CDC adds that it discourages workers from using other workers’ phones, desks, offices, or other work tools and equipment. If it does need to happen, the work area should be cleaned and disinfected thoroughly.

Reports from fab shops understand this need for cleanliness and have been actively involved in doing so, especially between them.

Personal Protective Equipment

Honestly, fabricators are probably more interested in providing personal protective equipment (PPE) available for its workforce to local medical, health care personnel, and first responders than ensuring their employees have it for the future, but that focus may be changing in the near future. A Chicago-area fab shop admitted to having PPE, but that it was optional as of early April.

If masks are being recommended for a local community, then people should probably wear them in the workplace as well. Gloves and face shields are alternative PPE that should be considered and could go a long way to providing an extra layer of protection.

When Stay-at-Home Orders End

What happens when shops that have been operating with a skeletal staff or have been closed reopen? Do these same guidelines apply? Will they be enough? Do workers need to be supplied with masks, face shields, and gloves?

Does your shop have a coronavirus response plan? Where are sick workers sent? Who is the point person who will look into who the sick worker interacted with? Has management discussed what happens if absenteeism becomes an issue?

Perhaps more guidance might emerge from the federal government, but as of right now, the national leaders seem content in letting the state and local elected officials take the lead on these issues.

In the meantime, if you have any suggestions or best practices that have worked out well for your shop, let us know. Send me an e-mail, and we’ll share it with our fabricator audience.

About the Author
The Fabricator

Dan Davis

Editor-in-Chief

2135 Point Blvd.

Elgin, IL 60123

815-227-8281

Dan Davis is editor-in-chief of The Fabricator, the industry's most widely circulated metal fabricating magazine, and its sister publications, The Tube & Pipe Journal and The Welder. He has been with the publications since April 2002.