Manufacturing operations have been in the spotlight during the coronavirus outbreak in North America as some shifted to produce personal protective equipment (PPE), which brought its own set of challenges to the forefront. Now, as regions begin reopening, there are other issues that manufacturers, particularly those that have been temporarily closed during the crisis, will encounter in the coming weeks and months.
“The road hasn’t been paved fully for how does this work as we venture into this concept of reopening, having been in a period of shelter in place for most of North America,” said Scott Steinmetz (pictured), P.E. and global head of MidCorp at Allianz Risk Consulting, noting that as a result it’s important to “think about getting back up and running for those operations that were either temporarily shut down – they may have shut down in an urgent fashion or forced to shut down – or they reduced their occupancy.”
Allianz has outlined several key risks that manufacturing operations may face during this time. Namely, restarting operations at an idle or vacant facility presents loss prevention challenges due to the hazardous equipment and/or processes found at these plants. According to Allianz, “Businesses should pay particular attention to the condition of electrical equipment and installations, as around 20% to 30% of AGCS fire claims are related to these.”
Taking into account that equipment may have been at a standstill for months, “We have to think about any maintenance that had been deferred over these months for machinery,” said Steinmetz. “There should be a whole series of advanced planning through that whole process, thinking about how things are going to be different in this new future.”
Manufacturers should also restore site security before restarting, which will involve a detailed self-inspection of the site to detect and fix unsafe or abnormal conditions, including damage, maintenance issues, improper housekeeping or storage, as well as signs of vandalism, recommends Allianz.
Besides property-related risks, there are also threats to the safety of employees as the coronavirus continues to spread in North America. The same social distancing measures that individuals should be following in their day-to-day lives should also be implemented in the workplace.
“Manufacturers have … to deal with social distancing, which means you may have fewer workers who are going to be working differently so there are training elements, there’s planning ahead of time, including thinking through the whole continuum of the manufacturing process,” explained Steinmetz.
Since the pandemic experience is a new one for most people and businesses, the guidance of risk engineering and consulting experts will be key during this time.
“The partnership that we have with our clients comes into full value because we can have these dialogues, raise awareness and ask questions, and we’re learning alongside our policyholders and insureds about something that our generation has never seen before,” noted Steinmetz. “Among all of these details on reopening and developing the ‘new normal’ … it really does behove operators, and especially manufacturers, to be [diligent] on advanced planning.”
