A global shortage for the required PPE for health practitioners in the country has led to many companies turning their hands to solving the problem in a practical way.
The mask has become the latest fashion statement and cloth masks are now being produced in all shapes and sizes, in colourful patterned tribal material, in leopard print and florals.
In its efforts to ease the shortage of masks, Sappi Southern Africa was able to procure 15 000 surgical masks for community clinics and health care centres in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga enabling community health practitioners to perform their duties safely. These have been delivered to clinics along with quantities of hand sanitiser, which have also been in short supply.
But there was also a need for about 19 000 reusable cloth masks for Sappi’s own employees, who continue to deliver essential services during lockdown. While the company was able to procure these, the opportunity to respond to an ongoing situation was also identified and the Sappi Saiccor Skills Centre in Umkomaas sprang into action.
Its training department deployed six apprentices who were not able to continue with their normal training schedule due to the restrictions, to make cloth masks.
There are hundreds of patterns on how to make face masks, and after a short period of trial and error, the team had found a suitable prototype, and using material they had sourced from the same business, they started producing the cloth mask.
“Within a short time, our apprentices were working at full steam and they are now producing around 100 masks per hour,” said Rob Griffith, learning and development manager.
“We are so proud of our apprentices who took to this challenge immediately and have fully immersed themselves in making these masks, despite them being from completely different trades like fitters, millwrights and instrument technicians,” he said.
“Our order book for producing these masks remains very busy at the moment,” said Melanie Jacobs, regional learning manager. “We are pleased to able to be teaching our apprentices these new skills, which not only keeps them gainfully occupied, but also provides for a definite need in the market,” she said.
“When lockdown is over we will be looking into providing training opportunities to local SMMEs in the area for the continued production of cloth masks, to supplement the other skills which we are teaching community members at the Skills Centre,” she said.
The masks are distributed along with instructions on how they should be used for maximum effectiveness, with the clear message that they should be used in addition to observing the rules of social distancing and personal hygiene regimes.
