In a filmed interview published by The National Provisioner on May 14, 2020, Christine Tenley shared her thoughts on how meat processing plants can strike the balance between fulfilling their crucial role in the food supply chain and their responsibility to keep employees safe in the context of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the Executive Order calling on plants to remain open.

Tenley identified four broad categories that run concurrently with guidance from the CDC and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) when discussing areas that are critical to address, including:

• Distance – Because some employees work in an office setting while others are on the processing lines or even handling biohazardous cleaning, each group will need to be assessed differently as it relates to adjusting layout, sanitation and PPE protocol.
• Duration – Workers on the line of a processing plant can spend 8-10 hours side-by-side under normal circumstances, and plants should take steps to help limit this amount while acknowledging that a production line requires significant manpower. CDC and OSHA have issued guidance to help.
• Type of Contact – While it is easy to monitor activity on the production lines, high risk areas include breakrooms, communal areas and high-touch surfaces. One way plants have addressed this issue was to set up break tents outside.
• Social Implications – Meat plants tend to be in rural areas with workforces made up of migrant communities and families with several members working at the same plant, which increases chances of spreading the virus among the workforce. Co-workers might have also set up carpools that create additional risks. To identify and find solutions for these social risks, it’s important to communicate with employees personally through a point person or a hotline, and have health resources available for employees.

Tenley also discussed the preparedness of the industry given its prior experience with high-risk workplaces due to machinery and existing teams of medical personnel within plants. She also discussed some of the innovative approaches plants have taken, including wage adjustments to incentive retention despite reduced hours and, notably, Tyson Foods’ partnership with a health care provider for psychological care.

For the full video, please click here.

[View source.]