05/27/2020 

The purpose of this email is to inform you that we have the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Plant Hamilton.  It is important to protect the privacy of all our employee, as such we are not at liberty to provide the name of the employee or the area that they work.  We can share that the employee in question did all of the right things.  At the onset of symptoms, he/she contacted Nurse Teri and went immediately to an Urgent Care to be tested.  While waiting for the results he/she monitored their symptoms and quarantined.  Once he/she received the results, he/she contacted Teri and informed her at which point she informed the appropriate management of the case. 

As required, we have been in contact with the Hamilton Health Commissioner and are following all mandated State protocols required in the event of a confirmed case.  We are currently working through the contract tracing process to determine who this employee had contact with so that we can inform these employees of possible contact and establish appropriate quarantine measures. 

Despite this unfortunate development we will maintain all our measures and continue to communicate the most up to date safety protocols to keep yourself and your co-workers safe.  We must reiterate to all of our employees the need to be diligent in stopping the spread of the virus to others.  Please be sure that you are washing your hands regularly and not touching your face, maintaining a social distance of a minimum of 6 feet at all times and wearing your mask from the moment you get out of your car in the parking lot until the moment you get back in your car at the end of the shift.  Wearing a mask helps reduce the potential spread of the virus.  Please keep the mask is worn correctly – pulled up over your nose and mouth – it does not help to have a mask that is below your nose or mouth and around your neck.

While we cannot tell you what to do outside of work, we hope that you continue to be as responsible and use good judgement to keep yourself and others safe.

We will continue to work through all the steps to address this quickly and will keep you informed of any new information.

Based on our continuous improvement value & mindset, we are committed to working on improvements and safeguards to protect our employees and provide the safest possible working environment.  We ask you to support in this initiative by submitting your ideas to our COVID email hotline Covid19@bilsteinus.com and our hotline 513-301-2311 (please leave a message).