Tesla Safety Chief Announces Coronavirus Is Not Circulating At Fremont Facility
Most people enjoy productivity. Certainly, they enjoy the relief of paying their bills, paying rent, feeding their families. After the back and forth over policy, and controversy in regards to factory jobs, electric carmaker Tesla’s Fremont facilities have been opened for almost a month now, and so far with apparent safety success.
Tech Chronicle reports that there have been no workplace transmissions of the coronavirus since production lines starting moving and employees returned to work last month. Nothing out of the ordinary is circulating at the factory, such as the unusual virus that put the world in a drastic change of lifestyle and general state of unemployment.
https://twitter.com/techchronicle/status/1271171788219617281
The San Francisco Chronicle explained that county health officials reported on the coronavirus situation at the plant. Following that, health and safety chief Laurie Shelby informed Tesla employees in an email (obtained by The Chronicle) that employees exposed to the virus were mainly made vulnerable through family members or housemates.
Also, in “most instances,” employees informed their managers. Those employees either stayed home or got tested for the virus. She did not make known any specifics of the circumstances. Shelby also explained how the company has handled contact tracing efforts.
An earlier report by The Chronicle, on Wednesday, relayed that there were employees who felt they were not given enough information about cases in the factory. They wanted more feedback, more information to be shared with everyone. The workplace has around 10,000 employees.
Tesla is adamant about protecting privacy on a need-to-know basis, expressing that the company is vigilant in actions to prevent virus infections and transmissions at its Fremont facility.
“Shelby wrote to employees that Tesla interviews people who have confirmed or suspected cases of the virus, determines where they are, and speaks with their managers to understand who they had contact with at work.
“Shelby did report that the employees who are infected — or even a potentially infected person — are interviewed and quarantined. ‘It was not clear from the message if the company is employing outside help to handle contact tracing or is handling those efforts in-house.'”
The email confirmed that Tesla offers employees a COVID-19 paid sick leave. That encourages us to believe that no one would hide getting sick due to financial responsibilities. The support from the company is clear, that employees should stay home if they are sick, with a structure in place that offers more guidance from the health and safety team.
As with mass transit, and all responsible businesses, Tesla increased its cleaning protocols at the factory following the lockdown. Temperature checks before entering the building were added, along with more frequent and intensive cleaning, social distancing, and more partitions in common areas to protect against virus transmission. Let’s hope the positive health news at the factory continues.
Tesla Fremont factory photos by Kyle Field and Chanan Bos, CleanTechnica.
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