April 24, 2020
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Workers at Braskem America, a biotechnology company in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, didn't go home for 28 days so they could produce chemical materials needed for personal protective equipment around the clock during the COVID-19 crisis.
Employees of a Delaware County factory didn't go home for 28 days in order to rapidly produce millions of pounds of material needed to make personal protective equipment.
Forty-three Braskem America workers lived at the Marcus Hook factory as the need for PPE intensified amid the coronavirus pandemic, The Washington Post reported Thursday. They finally went home on Sunday after sleeping at the site for weeks.
In order to keep the manufacturing process operating around the clock, the employees slept in 12-hour shifts at what they deemed their "live-in factory." The workers volunteered to stay there to ensure that no one at the factory caught COVID-19 or spread the disease among their fellow employees as they produced much-needed PPE materials.
The workers will receive one full week off before returning to work and get a pay increase, The Post reported.
Braskem America was allowed to remain open as an essential business under Gov. Tom Wolf's business shutdown order due to the need for PPE materials. The biotechnology company produces polypropylene, a chemical used to create sterile medical products like masks and gowns.
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