Community Leaders Take Steps to Protect Essential Workers

Tuesday June 16, 2020

Protecting the safety and well-being of essential service workers is critical to maintaining operations of those businesses that provide essential goods and services to our communities.

As communities across our counties work together to manage through the COVID-19 situation, our businesses continue to adapt their policies and procedures to help protect their workers. One such business in our area is Maroa Farms, a 2.2 Million-square foot greenhouse in Coldwater, Michigan that grows fresh produce year-round.

“We have been working closely with Maroa Farms and appreciate their continued efforts in protecting their workers,” said Rebecca Burns, Health Officer for the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency (BHSJCHA). “The proactive approach they have taken ensures that they can maintain a steady supply of fresh, nutritious food to our communities, and further supports the re-opening efforts in Michigan.”

Working closely with the tri-county health department during this Coronavirus pandemic, the farm implemented the following measures to protect their employees and farmworkers:

• Working closely with the BHSJCHA and state health authorities to comply with all government and Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines, and staying abreast of real-time developments.

• Conducting daily temperature and health screenings at the beginning of each shift for onsite essential workers who are unable to work remotely, which includes daily inspections at all entry points of our facilities.

• Enforcing hygiene with an emphasis on proper hand washing and communicating the importance of washing hands.

• Installation of additional hand sanitizing stations throughout the farm.

• Increasing cleaning and sanitizing of all facilitiesincluding sanitizing of high touch point areas multiple times throughout the day.

• Staggering shifts and break times and establishing required distances between workers.

• Limiting zones and access to certain areas and items to help drive social distancing.

• Utilization of masks in accordance with governmental authority recommendations, and enforcing mandatory face coverings for all workerswhile on applicable location as of the various effective dates.

  • For workers that do not have a mask one is provided
  • Providing optional face shields (and resources to clean those shields)

• Providing plexiglass separation or other physical barriers where necessary.

• In quality control and grading operations, adherence to social distancing and at least 6ft distance between workers when reasonably possible.

Further, for any workers being housed onsite, the farm has undertaken the following measures:

• Additional sanitation precautions in farmworker housing units which includes deep sanitizing and cleaning of the living quarters each day.

• Development of communication and a reporting structure to report COVID-type illnesses as soon as possible to those identified workers living with others.

• To help minimize the need for travel and to help encourage stay at home orders from the applicable governmental executives, the farm is providing food to their on-site farm workers and certain other housing facilities, to prevent the need to travelto the store.

• Separate isolated areas and accommodations for those experiencing COVID symptoms or testing positive for COVID, to self-isolateuntil they meet the CDC criteria for ending isolation.

Social distancing is inherent in most of the greenhouse production area. Individual greenhouse workers are assigned one row or section and typically work individually with little to no direct contact with others during the day. The facility is the size of nearly 40 football fields (2.2 Million sq. feet).

Maroa Farms recently took the proactive step of conducting mass testing of onsite workers, in order to identify any workers that were tested that mayhave COVID-19 but were not showing symptoms. This has allowed the farm to identify and separate those testing positive for COVID-19, to help prevent further spread. Testing was conducted using a professional health testing provider. All results have been reported to Public Health, and those workers testing positive are instructed to self-isolate in accordance with CDC guidelines. The CDC and Federal Drug Administration continue to reinforce that there is no evidence that the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted through food.