Dear Atlantic Team Members:
As of March 24th, we continue to have no known cases of COVID-19 within our facilities. This is due to the diligence of all our employees in following the guidelines created to keep our workplace safe. Thank you.
Both the Canadian and United States governments have declared that our business and products are essential services. This is because no food, medical supplies, personal protective equipment, home delivery of products or food can make it to those who need it without our packaging. As things progress we become even more critical to the health and safety of our country and people. Information on businesses declared essential services can be found at the following website: https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2020/03/list-of-essential-workplaces-2.html
There is universal consensus that the biggest risk to getting the virus is exposure to people with active symptoms. Atlantic Packaging is keeping our workplaces safe by:
- Not allowing people with symptoms or who have recently travelled in our facilities in accordance with government guidelines
- Not allowing employees to cross between departments and between plants
- Controlling plant access to visitors and contractors
- We are reducing the number of individuals working in our facilities, where possible, to allow for increased social distancing
The risk of getting the virus from surface contamination is much lower. Despite the lower risk of surface contamination, we have implemented massive cleaning protocols to do everything we can to limit this risk and make the workplace the safest environment that most people encounter during their day.
Additional measures that are being implemented across our facilities are as follows:
- Increasing the frequency of cleaning and sanitizing of common areas and high touch points such as door handles, control screens and railings on all shifts
- Frequent cleaning of forklifts and other shared equipment
- Engaging 3rd party commercial cleaners to augment our own sanitizing initiatives
- Ensuring adequate supply of hand sanitizer for regular personal use
- Working with teams to sanitize their work space by wiping down the working surfaces with the appropriate cleaning products. This sanitization between or at the start of shifts acts as a firewall between shifts dramatically reducing the potential for spread of the virus via surface contamination.
- Eliminating congestion areas in the plant and allowing for proper social distancing by:
- Staggering the start time of the shifts by department where possible and segregating shifts during change overs to limit interactions
- Staggering lunch times and limiting the number of people in the lunch room at any point in time
- Eliminating the need to clock in and out of the plant
As we know “mind not on task” is one of the major risk factors for injuries. With everything going on, and as we worry about our families / friends, it is very easy to not have our mind on task and risk a serious injury. It will take all of us working together (just not too closely) to stay safe.
Thank you for everything you are doing every day. Stay safe and continue to help and watch out for each other. Our diligence in keeping our workplaces safe to provide the essential services needed by Canadians is critical to supporting our communities and families during the pandemic.
Sincerely,
Dave Boles
President
Atlantic Packaging Products
