Coronavirus: what contingency plans are you putting in place?

I would be interested to know how manufacturing companies are dealing with shop floor staff who cannot practically work from home and would also welcome views on roles that are required to undertake maintenance/service work on customer sites (mostly hospitals).

I would be interested to know how manufacturing companies are dealing with shop floor staff who cannot practically work from home and would also welcome views on roles that are required to undertake maintenance/service work on customer sites (mostly hospitals).

Hi Miranda, I have the same question. In terms of our ideas at the moment we are looking at what are the bare minimum staffing numbers, can we apply split or skeleton shifts to limit exposure/contact. What are the critical areas that need 'hands on deck'.
With this in mind it has brought up the question: is it fair to send some staff home (office based) that can work from home. But require our teams on the machines to be at work simply because they cannot work from home.

Hi Natasha and Miranda, In a similar situation where working from home is not feasible for operational roles which requires 43% of our workforce to be on site and agreeably the notion of is it fair to have the 57% working from home has certainly been in the talks and what we are doing if following the government guidance (www.gov.uk/.../guidance-for-employers-and-businesses-on-covid-19 for employers to ensure fairness for all.

We are a manufacturing environment so we have a similar split to you and similar concerns regarding the fairness.

We have taken the view we will ensure those with underlying health conditions take priority as they are most at risk and therefore they will be allowed to work from home if possible. For those who have health issues but can't work from home, we will move them to a less densely occupied part of the building to reduce their interaction with people and also provide them with the means to be able to sanitise their own work areas. For the remainder we are looking at operating a rotational basis i.e. 1 week working in the office, 1 week working from hom to limit numbers in the office. However we do have a number of office staff that will not be able to work from home regardless due to system requirements.

For the shop floor we are advising social distancing wherever possible and for those who do have to work in close proximity we are encouraging increased hygiene measures to prevent contamination.

If we do start to see shop floor impacted we will have to look at reducing shifts, offering holidays, unpaid leave or banking of hours.

Yes!! Do people not shower? I love this

Yes, me too - we are in the same situation as well. We are manufacturing company therefore the majority of our workforce can't work from home.

We have put in necessary steps to encourage hygiene, additional cleaning, reviewing who can work from home in order to reduce the risk of spreading. We have put out questionnaires / consent forms to find out who has underlying health concerns, and / or have family members they care for or live with so that we can look to review alternatives for them not being in the office. Flexible working / staggering the shifts and rotating office staff who can't work from home.

however, it is difficult to make much changes to the workshop employees. Does anyone have any other options that would assist?

My company manufacturers infant ventilators so we’re working hard to meet increased demand whilst trying to minimise the risk as far as possible.

We have the space to separate the manufacturing/production staff into 2 groups working apart in different buildings. Other staff unable to work from home are being moved to a space further away from colleagues, especially from those who travel on public transport.

Bravo to you guys, I wish you well with keeping the virus out whilst you do something so important.

Thanks Claire, interesting re the questionnaire, I've shared that with our crisis team.