The Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) was formed in 1999 by chief executives from many of Indiana’s leading businesses, universities, and philanthropies in a strategic and collaborative effort dedicated to the state’s continued prosperity and growth. Perhaps now more than at any other time in our 20+ year history, Indiana’s continued prosperity and growth are less certain as a result of the economic shut-down brought on by COVID-19.
Yet at some point, hopefully very soon, the COVID-19 pandemic infection curve will begin to reliably decline. Employers and employees will be seeking to re-enter and re-activate the workplace. However, until an effective COVID-19 vaccine is developed and deployed to enable and justify fully operational workplace interactions, the return to work can be only partial and will likely look far different from the workplace considered normal prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.
How can Indiana lead the way in achieving the best possible outcomes for our industrial companies during this challenging period, likely lasting well into 2021? As the nation’s most manufacturing-intensive state, with nationally ranked health care systems, America’s largest medical school, and one of the country’s current showcase centers for life sciences innovation in this crisis, Indiana should be uniquely prepared to rise to this challenge.
CICP professional staff, our initiative leaders particularly Mark Howell with Conexus Indiana and Paul Mitchell with Energy Systems Network, our board members and other key stakeholders have been working tirelessly to develop a number of safe return to work guidelines for our industry sectors.
One of the first documents developed is the Safe Return to Work for Indiana’s Manufacturing, Logistics, and Warehouse Sectors: Keeping our Hoosier workers safe so they can restart the state.
This playbook is intended to identify recommendations and best-practices drawn from public health experts and organizations, as well as other officials, to assist Hoosier employers both in continuing to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and in restarting operations.
A special thanks to the collaboration through the Office of the Governor, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, the Indiana Department of Labor, and the Department of Workforce Development in the creation of these guidelines.
[READ THE SAFE RETURN TO WORK GUIDELINES]