Cleaver Brooks facility in Thomasville suspends production after COVID cases

THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WCTV) - Cleaver Brooks closed its Thomasville production facility on Tuesday to conduct contact tracing and do a deep cleaning after several employees tested positive for COVID-19.

The decision to suspend production, impacting about 100 employees, was taken out of an abundance of caution, according to the company’s vice president for human resources, Dennis Hettinger.

Hettinger says at the last report there were fewer than a dozen cases, but he declined to give a specific number, saying it’s a fluid situation.

The company is encouraging all of its production workers to get tested Tuesday, with plans to re-start production Wednesday. Those who test positive or have close contact with someone positive will isolate or quarantine as needed, Hettinger says.

Cleaver Brooks has followed CDC guidelines for workplace safety since the start of the pandemic, according to Hettinger. That includes daily temperature screenings, mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing.

Cleaver Brooks is a leading maker of boilers and boiler systems, with facilities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and China. Hettinger says the company supplies systems to hospitals and other healthcare providers, so the Thomasville plant is considered a critical industry and has remained in operation throughout the pandemic.

Thomasville is also the company’s corporate headquarters, with a total of 248 people at the facility.