Working Together to Keep Employees Safe and Healthy
Keeping employees safe and healthy is a top priority to Keurig Dr Pepper and we have taken extraordinary precautions to keep our teams safe and supported, including following the guidance provided from health authorities and government agencies.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, teams at our facilities across North America came together quickly to implement new protocols designed to keep our employees safe while they deliver essential products to our customers and consumers. Maintaining a six-foot distance between individuals is one key to keeping our employees healthy, and teams across our network have found new and creative ways to maintain that separation.
For example, at our manufacturing plant in Essex, Vermont, team members Rich, Production Coach, and John, Senior Production Manager, demonstrated the use of six-foot visual cues installed throughout the facility to keep team members collaborating, while at a safe distance. In Windsor, Virginia, our employees reconfigured large amounts of the facility and furniture to meet the spacing guidelines. At our manufacturing plant in Sumner, Washington, the team transformed one break room into three in just a few short hours and outfitted several conference and training rooms to give employees enough room to take a break safely as they work hard to keep our customers supplied.
Similarly, employees sprang into action early on by developing creative ideas to keep our teams masked up. At our Avenal, New Jersey site, more than 48,000 bandanas were shipped to KDP locations across the country – it took 11 team members 10 hours to pack and ship nearly 180 boxes, on top of keeping up with everyday operations.
In Ukiah, California, in response to the broader mask shortages throughout the U.S., account manager Steve, along with his wife Jennifer, took it upon themselves to make masks for the entire Ukiah DSD crew to wear in the trade, after KDP approved the voluntary use of cloth masks to curb the spread of COVID-19. In addition to being manufactured according to CDC specifications, each mask has an inside pocket for an extra filter and includes instructions on how to wash and dry them daily.
Distribution supervisor Shad and his wife Angie volunteered to make 30 protective face masks for drivers that work out of the Cedar Rapids branch, while merchandising manager Nick made an additional 30 face masks for this facility.