PPE - WKTV Journal

Several local manufacturers are making personal protective equipment such as masks and hand sanitizer. (Public Domain)

Before many businesses can open, owners first must secure personal protective equipment with two local agencies stepping up to the challenge to help owners find and purchase what they needs.

This week, Kent County announced the Kent County Back to Work initiative where the Kent County Board of Commissioners has allocated $2 million of the County’s CARES Act funding to provide person protective equipment at not cost to qualifying small businesses and other employers. Available PPE includes eye and face protection, gloves, hand sanitizer and thermometers.

“We need to focus on getting our economy back on track, making sure employers have what they need to safely reopen and employees fee safet to go back to work,” said Kent County Board of Commissioners Chair Mandy Bolter. “Our Board listened to countless business representatives who were concerned about the ability to source PPE. We ant to remove that roadblock and use the County buying power to help where we can.”

To quality, employers must be located in Kent County and must employ 100 people or fewer. Qualified employers may place PPE requests either online or by calling the PPE fulfillment center at (616) 245-3636 between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Calls will be taken in English or Spanish.

All qualifying requests received by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, June 4 will be entered into a random selection process. The first-round selection will take place on Friday, June 5, and a third-party fulfillment center will begin filling requests on that date.

Those selected in the first-round selection process will be contacted after their requests are filled, and they will be told where they can pick-up their order. Requests not picked up by employers within five business days of notification will be returned to inventory.

The program will continue accepting employer requests and running daily random selection process as long as program funding is available. If an employer is not selected in the initial drawing, they will remain eligible either until they are selected or until funding is no longer available.

Face shields are another PPE product available from local manufacturers.

Local PPE manufacturers

The Right Place, Inc. has developed and launched the West Michigan PPE Supplier Directory. This directory features West Michigan manufacturers who are producing high-demand PPE supplies, along with contact information to procure the supplies.

As West Michigan begins the process of a phased reopening, including today’s restart of manufacturing operations, companies can use this directory to fulfill their critical PPE supply needs and ensure a safe workplace reopening.

“As the region’s employers begin the process of restarting operations, we are proud to offer this resource to assist them in securing PPE from local manufacturers,” said Birgit Klohs, President and CEO, The Right Place, Inc. “The depth and breadth of the PPE available showcases the manufacturing prowess of our region. We are still a community who makes things, and this expertise has served us well as the community navigates this crisis.”

Companies can use the directory to source a wide variety of commonly needed types of PPE such as face masks and shields, gowns, googles, gloves, sanitization products, thermometers and more. More than 60 local companies are featured in the directory.

The West Michigan PPE Supplier Directory lists several Kentwood and Wyoming business that are making PPE productions. Some of the Kentwood and Wyoming businesses listed and the products they have are:

Kentwood’s 3D Printed Parts is offering this comfort strap for masks.

3D Printed Parts, 4355 Airwest Dr. SE, masks, face shields, and comfort straps for masks

Ladder 34, 4980 Kendrick St SE, masks and face shields

Bluewater Technologies, 4245 44th St. SE, digital signs, face shields

Nutra Foods, 4683 50th St. SE, masks, face shields, gloves, goggles, protective suits (not gowns)

Winners Brand, 5090 Kendrick Ct. SE, masks, face shields

Laird Plastics, 3839 E. Paris SE, face shields

Superior Business Solutions, 3615 29th St. SE, gloves, goggles, safety signage, thermometers

Southern Lithoplate, 4150 Danvers Ct. SE, hand sanitizer

Total Plastics, 1652 Gezon Parkway SW, face shields, medical mobile carts

Rapid-Line, 1475 Gezon Pkway. SW, hand free door pulls

Wyoming’s Metro Health – University of Michigan Health, environmental and health consulting

Additionally, products and manufacturers are being added on a regular basis.

If you are a manufacturer producing PPE and would like to be added to the list, contact The Right Place at PPEequip@rightplace.org.

By Nate Hoekstra
GVSU

In a normal workday setting for health care workers who have to wear personal protective equipment, or PPE, the same equipment that workers know fits properly is readily available. But when the COVID-19 pandemic created shortages of PPE at many health care facilities, the need for respirators and gloves was met with donations.

While the donations were needed, using equipment without a proper fit can render the equipment less effective than it would normally be.

To help address this concern, Grand Valley Occupational Safety and Health students have created helpful guides for health care workers that provide a step-by-step tutorial for qualitative fit-testing different styles and brands of respirators.

“The guide also provides information about the different types of respirators and provides information on the acceptable conditions, and maximum efficiency,” said professor of occupational safety and health Derek McCormick.

McCormick said that the N95 mask, which has become commonplace since the pandemic began, is intended to filter 95 percent of contaminants from the air. That efficiency goes down if the mask isn’t worn properly, or doesn’t fit right.

“Knowing how to fit-test these respirators is important because OSHA requires employers to assess hazards in the workplace and provide the right PPE, and employees want to be using the right equipment for the job,” McCormick said. “This project helps identify the best way to use the tools available for health and safety.”

A different group of occupational safety and health students also created a guide for proper cleaning and PPE in room sanitization processes. Again, in normal times the same kind of sanitizer would be used in a health care setting, but with shortages of chemicals and cleaners, non-standard solutions are being used.

Those different chemicals and cleaners have different exposure risks, which can be mitigated by different kinds of gloves that are designed to protect from different hazards. The students created a list of cleaners that can be used in place of normal sanitizing processes, and what PPE should be used to protect workers from side effects or other hazards.

“These seniors and recent graduates are making a difference in a unique way,” McCormick said. “Helping protect frontline workers in our health settings during a pandemic is a wonderful and important way to showcase what they have learned at Grand Valley.”