As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the world, manufacturing organizations face a massive operational challenge. While legal offices, IT companies, and other service sector companies have been given work from home orders, front line workers can’t take their work home.

Moreover, with the supply constraints hanging large, the manufacturing industry has to be made operational again. This heightened uncertainty is going to be looming over us for an extended period.

Plant leaders can try the following tips when reopening factories so that social distancing can be maintained without hurting production.

Tips for reopening Factories

1. Introduce more shifts

This is an effective countermeasure. When all the workers come at the same time, it will be nearly impossible to maintain social distancing. More shifts ensure that fewer workers are working at the same time, and it is easier to maintain social distancing.

In addition to shifts, you can also have people working only on particular days. Have a Monday-Wednesday, and Thursday-Saturday crew. So that if someone in one team is affected by the virus, the other crew can work.

2. Prevent the transmission by introducing health measures

Give your workers masks for free. Have temperature checks when workers clock-in to work. Educate them about the virus and its symptoms. Train them to practice social distancing. Place sanitizers in strategically selected places so that they sanitize regularly. Avoid meetings unless they are necessary. Have several small group meetings rather than a single large one.

3. Make changes at the workplace

Workers should always be working at least 2 meters away from each other. Open up more entrances and exits so that it doesn’t get too crowded when they enter or leave. Introduce pathways for workers to get to their workstations so that they don’t take the same paths.

4. Identify and isolate

Identify workers who are at high risk and are showing symptoms. Tell them not to come to work if they are showing symptoms. Workers shouldn’t be afraid to lose their jobs if they self-report symptoms. Have a policy of paid leave if the workers are showing signs so that they don’t come in sick and transmit the virus.

5. Make workers feel safe

Workers would be less productive if they don’t feel safe. Sanitize the workplace during lunchtime. Make sure that the workers see that the workplace is regularly sanitized to inspire confidence and a sense of security in them. Workers often eat at the same place during breaks. Build a mess and provide food at different times to the workers.

Even with the precautions, it would be hard to operate in these tough times. Thankfully, services like Pulse help make it easy for industries to start production again. With Pulse, you can have a checklist of safety countermeasures that your workers have to check. For example, you can have a screening checklist for workers.

Pulse has a plethora of templates made for different sectors with regards to coronavirus. Download the checklist, while initiating it, you can specifically mention people by groups, departments in which they work, functions they perform, the location in which they are based, and any other custom variable. Set a deadline for the task. Ask for pictures as proof that the job was performed. The workers that you have mentioned have to fill out the checklist in the manner you prescribed before the deadline.

You can have multiple checklists throughout the day to ensure that workers follow safety guidelines. Pulse will generate an automatic report keeping track of the tasks performed, missed inspections, jobs failed, overdue actions, etc. to give you insight. Create schedules and controls on Pulse to minimize interactions between people.