Bridgestone Iowa plant sees more COVID cases in May

DES MOINES, Iowa — While confirmed cases of coronavirus rose among employees in May at Bridgestone Americas Inc.'s Firestone agricultural tire plant in Des Moines, production there has "safely" continued, the company said recently.

As of June 10, 34 employees have tested positive for coronavirus. On May 26, there were 24 employees who had tested positive. The company said one of those cases occurred when the plant was shut down March 21-April 13. There were eight cases on May 1.

"The well-being and safety of employees remains the company's most important value," Bridgestone said May 26.

"The Des Moines plant continues to operate on a regular schedule and in alignment with the latest safety protocol guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support a safe and healthy environment for employees."

The Des Moines plant, opened in 1945 by Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., had its first employee test positive for coronavirus April 23. At the time, the company said the employee was in home isolation, and all other employees who may have come into contact with the affected person were asked to self-quarantine and contact a doctor if symptoms arose. The company also went through a deep clean of any areas where the employee may have been.

The Des Moines plant employs around 1,050 and is rated at 4,000 tires a day. Other than saying production was on schedule, the company didn't elaborate on specific current production.

Bridgestone laid out its COVID-19 plan, an Environmental Health Safety & Sustainability (EHSS) Playbook, prior to reopening tire plants in mid-April. The plan included many things from enhanced cleaning measures to ongoing education to changes in the sick leave/absenteeism policy.

"The playbook has not changed, but we continue to maintain a steady cadence of communications to our employees, so they have a clear understanding of the safety measures in place, as well as actions they can take to promote a safe and healthy work environment for all employees," the company said.

"One of the biggest challenges is that we cannot keep employees from being exposed outside of work. Polk County has a high number of cases. Our challenge remains to keep teammates from being exposed from positive cases. We want to make sure we continue to give them information on the virus and how to prevent the spread as much as possible at work and at home."

Bridgestone has implemented a number measures meant to ensure the safety of the workforce at the Des Moines plant, including:

• Initially prescreening employees for COVID symptoms or exposure when the plant was restarted in April;
• Noncontact forehead temperature scanning of all personnel who enter the plant;
• Increased cleaning supplies and cleaning schedules;
• Social distancing: "This includes reducing the number of employees at a piece of equipment, installing barriers to keep employees apart, slowing down equipment, rerouting walkways, removing shower heads to force distance between employees, painting six-foot intervals on the floor."
• Supplying facemasks for all employees who want one, especially those whose job means they must work in close contact with another employee;
• Reworked areas that require frequent employee handling or touching;
• Limited the number of people in common areas; and
• Canceled the start of shift meetings and plant operational meetings.

In a letter sent to employees in May 7, the Des Moines plant leadership reiterated the many steps the company was taking to continue production in a safe manner and announced communication would continue through ongoing "small group" discussions. The company also asked employees to be aware of possible spread of the coronavirus outside of the plant.

"In our larger community, we are seeing an increase in cases, and as members of the community, we want to do our part as well. I am asking that you continue to exercise safe interactions outside of work and am attaching guidelines from the CDC as a reference for you to share with your family and friends and serve as a reminder that we are all counting on each other — now more than ever — to be as safe as possible.

"We ask you to remain vigilant in following the CDC's guidelines for controlling the spread of the virus to ensure your own safety as well as the safety of each other," management wrote in the letter.