As the world is navigating through the uncertainty of COVID-19, it is our number one priority to protect the health of our employees and customers. We believe that if the people of TenCate Protective Fabrics are able to remain operational within safety measures, our organization as a whole is able to provide the needed levels of service to our international customers and relations. It is our aim to remain operational in our several plants and keep up with our customer service. Today, we use our industry platform to share an overview of current safety measures to help others translate the global preventive measures to pragmatic implementation.
We believe that we are obliged to fully utilize our global digital connection and learn from each other. We would like to share with you TenCate Protective Fabrics’ current measures to minimize business disruption as much as possible, and maintain operations and customer service levels as high as possible.
Physical attendance (in shifts) and working from home
We have implemented specific measures to remain operational at our several plants. We are eager to continue to deliver workwear and protective fabrics, especially for those in critical professions such as medical personnel, transportation and utilities. How does this translate into our practice:
- Employees that are able to work from home are obliged to.
- Departments that are not able to work from home will be separated into teams with a maximum of 6 people per team. The different teams either work in different locations within our facilities or work at different times with a minimum gap of 30 minutes between start and end time for each team in order to avoid physical contact .
- We have a few functions in our organization that are critical and can only be done by very few employees. The employees involved will work from different locations or at different times to avoid any physical contact.
- Physical contact between employees must be avoided and everyone is to remain within a 1,5 meter distance.
- Employees are asked to change from leisure clothing into workwear at home to keep dressing rooms as empty as possible.
- Managers keep constant track of physical attendance of employees.
Lunch
Lunchtime is usually a time to unwind and socially interact with your colleagues. Unfortunately, with COVID-19 it is crucial to practice social distancing. The implementation:
- The lunch facilities are closed until further notice, no food will be prepared or served in these areas.
- People will have lunch at their workspace, and lunch break will be divided in shifts in order to minimize groups to 3 people or less.
Meetings and business travel
We fully utilize all digital opportunities to minimize the gathering of people in large groups. This leads to certain measures regarding meetings and business travel:
- All business travel is prohibited. Any exceptions must be approved by Human Resources.
- Outside visitors will not have access to our facilities, except for suppliers and vendors who have a business critical reason to enter the facility, subject to approval by Human Resources.
- Travel between our several plants and offices by employees is prohibited, except for business critical reasons and must be approved by Human Resources.
- Truck drivers are instructed not to leave their vehicle during loading or unloading. If this is necessary, special instructions are distributed to prevent physical contact.
- Internal meetings shall be no more than 3 employees and with appropriate distance. Any larger meetings must be kept virtual by using video conference applications.
- All plant tours are prohibited until further notice.
Travel abroad and self-quarantine
Last but not least, we aim to have a zero risk policy when it comes to the health of employees that have been in “hot spot” areas during the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe.
- Employees who have recently visited “hot spot” areas (as defined by CDC, WHO, or local public health authorities) will be subjected to a 14- day quarantine, which includes visits on personal time.
- Employees must self-report and self-quarantine if he/she has been exposed to the virus. If there is a family member in the household with the virus, employees must not enter TenCate Protective Fabrics property. Do not report to work and inform your manager.
- If employees have been abroad this must be reported to their manager.
- Employees who are showing signs of illness such as coughing, fever, and difficulty breathing shall not report to work.
- We sanitize workspace and common areas often and wash hands regularly.
Just like you, we do everything within our reach to protect the health of our employees and business relations. By implementing safety measures, we aim to remain operational at our several plants and maintain our levels of customer service.
We are very eager to learn how your organization is able to remain operational within safety measures. Or maybe you have some valuable tips for us how we can further secure our service level.
Please do not hesitate to share with us your experiences so far: contact us.
