Nokian Tyres plans to reopen its Dayton factory on Monday, May 4, with some employees returning on Monday.
Officials said, "We are launching this phased reopening process after closely monitoring local and federal guidelines, and in light of recent actions taken by the State of Tennessee to begin reopening the state’s economy. This marks the conclusion of a shutdown that began Friday, March 27.
"Nokian Tyres manufactures supplies that are vital to the transportation industry, which has been deemed essential by the state and federal governments.
Given the importance of that industry and out of a desire to provide stability for our employees, we feel it is important to reopen the factory at this time.
"We would not reopen the factory unless we were confident we could do our part to provide a safe working environment for our team. Our employees’ safety is a top priority. To that end, we will continue taking aggressive steps to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 at the factory."
Measures include:
- Making every entrant onto factory property subject to temperature screening
- Implementing social distancing policies, including a six-foot distance requirement, rotating lunches, dedicated entrances for each department, and eliminating factory-wide meetings
- Allowing only business-critical visitors onto the factory site
- Increasing the frequency of cleaning throughout the facility