Covid-19

At Green Circle Growers/Express Seed Co./Fresh2u Transportation, the health, safety and well-being of our employees is always our top priority. During this extraordinary time of a global pandemic, we are even more focused on making sure we protect employee and community health by carefully adhering to recommendations from public health officials and medical experts.

Like other businesses in Ohio, Green Circle Growers/Express Seed Co./Fresh2u Transportation has carefully monitored guidelines from Governor Mike DeWine, the Ohio Department of Health, and our local health experts. When the Ohio Department of Health issued its “Stay at Home” order on March 22, we carefully reviewed the information to make sure our business is in full compliance with the order. Because we are an agricultural business, we are among the “essential businesses” listed and, therefore, encouraged to remain open under the order. We confirmed our status with the Governor’s Office, and will continue to operate our production facilities.

Employees who support operations but do not work directly in our production facilities, such as administrative professionals, are already working from home, and will continue to do so. Those employees whose jobs require they work onsite, primarily those in our production facilities, are asked to continue reporting for work unless they are affected by the virus, such as being under quarantine or in isolation, caring for a sick family member, or facing childcare issues because of school closings.

As we have over the past few weeks, as this pandemic spread, we have modified our operations and instructed our employees to carefully follow guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus. These efforts include:

• Assessing all work areas to make sure they are in compliance with social distancing requirements, and staggering lunches and breaks to limit gatherings in common areas.
• Reminding employees to check their temperatures before coming to work, and to stay home if they are sick.
• Reminding employees to follow best practices for personal hygiene to protect themselves, their families and their coworkers.
• Instructing employees to avoid sharing everyday equipment and supplies, and adding procedures for frequently cleaning highly used equipment.
• Increasing frequency for thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting common areas such as restrooms and break areas.

This is a rapidly evolving situation, and Green Circle Growers/Express Seed Co./Fresh2u Transportation will continue to monitor the situation and make any adjustments necessary to protect our employees and our community. Meanwhile, we appreciate the leadership of Governor DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health in their efforts to protect the health and well-being of our communities.