The deadline for responses to the Manufacturing Circle’s sector-wide Covid-19 Protocols Readiness Assessment has been extended to April 26, at 10:00.

The campaign was launched to solicit commitment and compliance in access control to operations, screening and temperature testing, as well as workplace re-induction, employee transport to operations and home, and personal protective equipment.

As such, the industry association called on small, medium-sized and microenterprises and larger manufacturing firms earlier this week to participate in the sector-wide campaign to assess the sector’s readiness to re-enter the economy by ensuring each has “well thought out” compliance plans to implement Covid-19 health, safety and hygiene protocols.

The Manufacturing Circle on April 24 told Engineering News it was “supportive of the government’s risk-adjusted approach to reopening the economy", following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on the evening of April 23.

The association indicated that its support was underpinned by an appreciation that these were unprecedented times, elaborating that, as such, economic recovery post-Covid-19 requires “a fine balancing act between what is good for the country, its people and the economy”.

The association further elaborated that the President’s pronouncements indicated that industry bodies, such as the Manufacturing Circle, would be able afforded the opportunity to make representations on the classification of industries before new regulations were gazetted.

As a result, the Manufacturing Circle anticipates a Ministerial briefing with Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel on the classification of industries and how manufacturing will be affected as South Africa moves through each of the newly announced alert levels.

“We have proactively taken responsibility to ensure that, while we wait for our Ministerial briefing, . . . manufacturers are ready with a plan to re-enter the economy. Importantly, this plan must prioritise both the health and wellness of our employees, simultaneously creating an environment for successful operations,” the association noted.

In this regard, the sector-wide campaign – which calls on the collective action of manufacturers – is intended to provide the Minister with enough data to inform him that the manufacturing industry is ready to return to full operations.