Bridgestone's COVID response tested as cases increase at Iowa plant

DES MOINES, Iowa — Eight employees at Bridgestone Americas Inc.'s Des Moines agricultural tire plant have tested positive for COVID-19 as of May 1, the company confirmed to Tire Business.

"We are taking every precaution, including thorough disinfection and self-quarantine of any employees who came into contact with a (COVID-19) positive employee," Bridgestone said.

The company said it is mitigating the situation using protocols it put into place to respond to such an event before production at the plant — which employs 1,050 at last reporting — was restarted April 13 along with other North American commercial tire plants as demand for agriculture and farm-related tires and commercial truck tires was reported up for the "essential" industries.

The company said this included truck tire plants in Warren and La Vergne, Tenn., as well as OTR tire plants in Aiken County, S.C. and Bloomington, lll.

The Des Moines plant, opened in 1945 by Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., had its first employee test positive for COVID-19 on 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.

"We were prepared for this and are following our rapid response plans developed through our Enterprise Crisis Management Team. This team has been monitoring the spread of the coronavirus and consulting federal, state and local officials, as well as health organizations to coordinate risk mitigation and business continuity strategies," the company said.

"We developed an Environmental Health Safety & Sustainability (EHSS) Playbook that outlines all of the measures that must be taken to promote teammate safety before production can resume at any of our plants," Bridgestone said. "This playbook guided the restart of operations at the commercial plants and will be used to resume operations at the passenger tire plants in North America."

Since the plant was idled on March 21 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, United Steelworkers (USW) Local 310L has been busy. Local 310L represents around 90% of employees at the Des Moines plant. 
Steve Vonk, president of Local 310L, said they have fielded calls for help for anything from answering member concerns to helping members understand unemployment benefits to communicating about how and when the plant would reopen.
"(Bridgestone) has been pretty decent about responding to this," Mr. Vonk said. He added, though, there have been some logistical hurdles, like when taking temperatures at the entrance caused a traffic backup. But, he said, they are working through those issues.
He noted Local 310L worked with Bridgestone as the plan was put into place to reopen the plant, and they have been in communication with them throughout the pandemic. 

Prior to the restart, several health and safety measures were put in place in Des Moines and at the other reopened plants, the company said, "with the sole purpose of keeping employees safe as much as possible."

• Pre-screening: "We called all employees prior to start-up as a screening mechanism for COVID symptoms, exposure or travel. Employees who are not contacted will not be able to work until that is complete."
• Temp checks: The company implemented non-contact forehead temperature scanning of all personnel who enter the plant. Those who have a high temperature, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, will be instructed to go home and call human resources for instructions.
• Deep clean: "We have dramatically increased cleaning supplies, and employees will be able to clean their equipment prior to shift start," the company said. It also increased cleaning schedules for common areas of the plant.
• CDC guidelines: The company has adjusted operations and equipment to maintain social distancing and follow guidelines from the CDC. "That may also include reducing the number of employees at a piece of equipment, installing barriers to keep employees apart, slowing down equipment, re-routing walk ways, removing shower heads to force distance between employees, painting six-foot intervals on the floor," the company said. "For jobs that we have determined it is difficult or impossible to perform and maintain six-foot social distancing, we are supplying face coverings for those employees."
• Other changes: At the plant, the company has reworked areas that require frequent employee handling or touching; limited the number of people in common areas at one time; and canceled or adjusted shift and operational meetings.

Bridgestone said the plant will remain in production, except for previously scheduled annual shutdowns around Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, but the company will continue to monitor the situation closely and adjust its response as necessary.

"The agricultural business in the U.S. is providing essential services in our communities every day," the company said. "Our ag customers are still moving, and we feel fortunate that we have been able to continue providing them with the tires they need to continue operating."