2020 Salute to Dairy

THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2020 CELEBRATING OUR LOCAL DAIRY INDUSTRY | 11
West Side dairy producers enact COVID-19 safeguards
West Side dairy producers
have enacted a variety
of precautionary measures
against coronavirus infection
in an effort to keep
employees and their families
safe.
From stepping up sanitation
protocols to encouraging
employees to stay
home when sick, dairies
are implementing many of
the same safeguards that
are being applied in workplaces
of all sorts.
Those measures often
include reminding employees
not to congregate
in time card areas or
break rooms - but the very
nature of the business is
such that employees are
most often not working
in close quarters with one
another, dairy producers
reported.
Dairy producers are
used to dealing with milk
price swings, production
costs beyond their control,
increased regulations and
more extensive compliance
report requirements.
And this year, they
found themselves dealing
with a pandemic.
“Our employees expressed
a lot of fear, as
did the rest of the world,”
said Tony Lopes, who is
the operations team leader
at the Tony L. Lopes Dairy
founded by his grandfather,
and is also involved
in the family’s P&D Dairy.
“They are concerned
about their families and
their households. We did
everything that we could
to make that that we were
not going to be a source
of any more concern for
them.”
Lopes said the importance
of hygiene was
stressed to employees,
and that restrooms, areas
where employees clock in
and out and other facilities
are routinely sanitized.
“Given the nature of
our operation, our breaks
and lunch times are pretty
staggered as it is. Our
system was already set up
to where they won’t all be
in the break room at the
same time,” he explained.
“For the majority of our
employees, with our work
being outdoors, social distancing
is not as much as
a challenge as you might
have in a meat packing
plant.”
Employees were also
reminded to follow recommended
guidelines.
“It was really just an
abundance of caution to
keep everybody protected,”
Lopes said.
The dairy also used its
suppliers to help secure
hard-to-find items such as
paper products and sanitation
products for its workers
and their families to
take that worry off their
shoulders. Workers were
also provided documentation
that they are essential
workers in the event that
they were stopped by law
enforcement.
“We felt we needed to
be pro-active about that to
ensure they felt comfortable,”
Lopes commented.
And, the importance of
staying home when sick
was emphasized.
“A lot of our guys have
the mantra that if we’re
sick we have to fight
through it. When this happened
we had to have a
talk with our guys, (telling
them) if you’re feeling under
the weather you need
to take responsibility for
that and stay home,” Lopes
told Mattos Newspapers.
When employees called
in sick, they were asked
not to return until they had
been tested for COVID-19.
“Everybody was willing
to do that,” said Lopes,
noting that no employees
tested positive.
Moonshine Dairy also
implemented a number
of protocols, said owners
Rich and Jacquie Dyt.
Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) guidelines were
printed in English and
Spanish and posted.
The Dyt’s daughters
were given the assignment
of sanitizing facilities such
as break rooms, as well as
door handles, four times a
day.
Sanitizers were put in
any equipment that was
shared by employees.
“We had a meeting with
the guys and just talked
about the seriousness of
it, and that we wanted to
maintain the social distancing,”
Jacquie Dyt
reported. “Even though
they work together, they
are not in close proximity.
We also tried right away
to stagger their lunches
so they weren’t all taking
lunch at the same time.”
The number of dairy visitors
- already largely limited
only to those with essential
business - dropped
even further when the
pandemic struck.
“We haven’t had any
salesmen come by in
months,” Rich Dyt said.
Dairy producer John
Toste said he, too, held
meetings with employees
encouraging them to keep
social distance from others
away from work as
well as while on the dairy.
“Everybody is trying to
wear gloves, stay safe and
wash their hands,” Toste
shared. “We try to social
distance as much as we
can. Before, you would get
closer to an employee to
talk. Now we kind of keep
our distance. We try to do
that. Everybody has a little
concern over it. We are
working together to make
things better.”
J E N S E N
&
J E N S E N
A T T O R N E Y S
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“Meeting The Needs of West Side
Farmers and Dairymen Since 1952”
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