Bentley plans for phased return

Bentley Motors has introduced a set of around 250 hygiene and social distancing measures to support a phased return to production at the company’s Crewe headquarters from 11 May.

The plan marks the biggest change to daily working life in the company’s 100-year history.

The measures are built around seven key areas – prior to leaving work, travel, entry, preparing for work, work stations, breaks, and exiting the site – and are designed to protect staff at the factory, which employs over 4,000 people.

The key process changes impact all areas, and include a redesign of the manufacturing facility itself to allow a two-metre distance between work colleagues, and one-way movement paths and traffic flows. Facemasks will now be compulsory in all factory and office areas, while Bentley will maintain a work from home policy for those who are able to.

There will also be an enhanced cleaning routine and clear guidance to the workforce on limiting the risk of infection on areas such as meeting governance, site access and travel.

This extends to new, stringent measures to control the population density on site at any one time. All entry and exit points have been reviewed and reconfigured to disperse the volume of people, there will be control measures in all catering facilities that limit capacity and allocated distanced seating, and office-based colleagues will work to a newly introduced shift-pattern. This will control the workforce density on site throughout the day, with extra defences also in place such as plastic separation screens in office areas.

Adrian Hallmark, chairman and CEO, Bentley Motors, said: “The time is now right for Bentley to begin a gradual and controlled return to production, while ensuring our sites are the safest place any of us can be. Everybody will be able to play their part to ensure we can continue Bentley’s extraordinary journey into the future of luxury, sustainable mobility.”

Full production is anticipated to resume on 18 May.