Shell plans to add 300 employees each week
The petrochemical plant in Beaver County is buzzing back to life with 800 workers on site as of last week and a plan to add 300 more workers per week going forward, officials at Shell Chemical Appalachia said.
At the same time, Beaver County remains in the red phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to reopen businesses in the state — it is the only county in southwestern Pennsylvania that isn’t being moved to yellow this Friday.
Shell, which had more than 8,000 people at the Potter construction site before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, said it would ramp up
activity with precautions, such as temperature screenings, social distancing in lunchrooms and on shuttle buses, and face masks.
“We will continue to conduct weekly reviews of our health and safety processes to ensure workers are safe, and that we remain in compliance with all CDC and health department guidelines,” the company said.
Shell is building an ethane cracker, a natural gas power plant and several other processing facilities on the massive site where natural gas liquids extracted from shale wells will be turned into plastic pellets.
The company had curtailed its workforce a few days before Gov. Wolf ordered nonessential businesses to shut down in mid-March. Throughout this period, several hundred workers still reported to work at the site for repair and maintenance duties and for cleaning and disinfecting. Before it shut down construction, Shell faced criticism for crowded shuttle buses and common areas on site.
With a few hundred people coming back to work, the employees were able to park on site, but with the expanding workforce, Shell said shuttle buses will be required again, albeit for a short distance.
The company released a diagram of how passengers will be seated — one window seat in every other row will be used and masks will be required.
Shell said in a statement that its safety protocols have proved effective at keeping COVID-19 from spreading and the 300-perweek worker increase will depend on it staying that way.
Beaver County has confirmed 509 cases of COVID-19 and 78 deaths, nearly all at the Brighton Wellness and Rehabilitation Center.
Local officials, such as the county’s district attorney, David Lozier, argued Beaver County doesn’t deserve to be left in the red zone and promised not to prosecute businesses that open.