Workers volunteered to live in a factory for 28 days to produce millions of pounds of raw PPE materials to make masks and gowns for frontline medical workers

• Forty-three workers at a petrochemical plant in Pennsylvania lived at their workplace for 28 days to produce 40 million pounds of polypropylene, a material used to make hygienic products such as face masks and surgical gowns.
• The Braskem America employees volunteered to live at the factory to limit exposure to the coronavirus as they made the raw PPE materials for essential workers.
• One worker told WPVI that despite the apparent burden of not getting to leave your workplace, it offered a sense of security that not many other essential workers have when they go to work.
• The Pennsylvania plant and another Braskem plant in West Virginia produced 40 million pounds of the raw material over a 28-day period, which alone could be made into 500 million N95 masks or 1.5 billion surgical masks.
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Workers at a Pennsylvania petrochemical factory ended a nearly month-long "live-in" at their workplace to produce 40 million pounds of raw PPE material used to make masks and gowns for essential workers.

Forty-three employees at Braskem America in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, volunteered to live in the factory to limit outside exposure to the coronavirus as they made polypropylene, a material used to make hygienic products such as face masks, surgical gowns, disinfectant wipes, and more.

"It just makes you immensely proud to be associated with a team like that," Braskem America CEO Mark Nikolich told The Washington Post. "They're operating in a strange environment 24/7, 365."

The Pennsylvania plant and another Braskem plant in West Virginia produced 40 million pounds of the material over a 28-day period, which alone could be made into 500 million N95 masks or 1.5 billion surgical masks, Nikolich told The Post.

Representatives for Braskem America did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Braskem workers worked 12-hour shifts over the 28-day live-in, motivated by their desire to protect frontline medical workers who are treating coronavirus patients.

"We were just happy to be able to help," Joe Boyce, an operations shift supervisor, told The Post. "We've been getting messages on social media from nurses, doctors, EMS workers, saying thank you for what we're doing."

"But we want to thank them for what they did and are continuing to do," he continued. "That's what made the time we were in there go by quickly, just being able to support them."

The workers were paid for all 24 hours each day they lived in the factory, with "a built-in wage increase for both working hours and off time," The Post reported, citing Braskem America.

Boyce told local news station WPVI that despite the apparent burden of not getting to leave your workplace, it offered a sense of security that not many other essential workers have when they go to work.

"We've almost been the lucky ones, I'll say, for the last 28 days because I haven't had to stand six feet from somebody," Boyce told WPVI. "I haven't had to put a mask on."

Boyce began the live-in on March 23, bringing an air mattress, toothbrush, and shaving kit in preparation for the long shift ahead of him. Other workers brought video games and cornhole, while others used the on-site gym to pass the time off-the-clock, according to The Post report.

Soon enough, the plant became a self-sufficient household with workers falling into routines to cook and clean.

"We had to kind of adapt," Boyce told The Post. "We came up with a chart for housekeeping chores so we could all clean the bathrooms and clean up after meals."

"It wasn't long before we're all sitting in the same spots at dinner," he said.

The men clocked the end of their last shift on Sunday, when they finally got to pack up their bags and return home. While it was an emotional moment for the team given their close quarters for an extended amount of time, Boyce said he was ready to go home.

"We wanted to walk out as a team," Boyce told The Post. "Everybody felt that way. It really hit me when my car got a little ways down from the plant — I'm finally going to see my family."

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