FCA Canada implements temperature taking protocol for workers

photo by Greg Layson
FCA Canada spokeswoman LouAnn Gosselin told Automotive News Canada that employees are now required to wear face masks and gloves.
“Employees also will be asked to complete a wellness self-assessment at home each day before reporting to work. This includes taking their temperature and answering five survey questions,” Gosselin said in an email.
FCA Canada currently builds the Chrysler Pacifica and Voyager and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans in Windsor. In Brampton, just outside of Toronto, it builds the Dodge Charger and Challenger cars and Chrysler 300 sedan.
Most automakers, including FCA Canada, are converging on a consensus that temperature screening, daily health questionnaires, assembly lines redesigned to keep workers three to six feet (0.9 m to 1.8 m) apart, and lots of masks and gloves can enable large-scale factories to operate safely.
At General Motors’ ventilator assembly plant in Kokomo, Ind., workers and managers have been fine-tuning details such as when employees are handed masks, and when they step in front of a temperature screening device.
Initially, ventilator assemblers in training at Kokomo walked down a hall before getting a mask, said Debby Hollis, one of the UAW-represented workers. Last week, she said, “They met us at the door and had us get in the masks there.”
The time workers spend putting on extra protective gear, the time spent doing extra cleaning, and spreading workers out on assembly lines designed to have one vehicle roll off the end every 60 seconds could undercut productivity.
“If we can protect employees, we can get work done,” said Johnson, the GM manufacturing chief. “The magnitude of the incremental cost is irrelevant. Costs will be managed.”
Category: AUTO MANUFACTURER NEWS