Narrative:

I arrived for work a few minutes before my shift began. I had been assigned a desk by someone from midnight shift. I'm not sure if the assignments were done by a lead or shift manager. I was assigned [a] desk; which is next to [another] desk. I did not measure the distance between the load planner and my position. I expect it is about 6 feet; probably not any less. The lead was assigned [a desk] with a similar separation of about 6 feet. The other 5 load planners working this morning had at least double the distance between them as the 2 load planner and the lead at these 3 desks. The 3 of us were not happy with this arrangement. After loud complaining by several load planners for several minutes and my demanding that someone be moved; the lead decided I could move to [a] desk which is across the aisle in the middle of 5 desks that were planned to be empty. This gave ample separation between the load planner and me.I don't know why this requires loud complaining. The midnight shift manager and/or lead don't want to provide any flexibility in this matter; as this is at least the second day in a row with similar desk assignments with needlessly reduced social distancing. I understand there may be problems with how the phone calls 'roll' between the desks or how the teams are assigned. These issues don't seem that important at this time as our workload is very reduced due to the reduced flight schedule. These issues need to be fixed to provide a safer; cleaner work environment.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Load Planner expressed concern about Coronavirus related company procedures that resulted in personnel being seated too close to one another.

Narrative: I arrived for work a few minutes before my shift began. I had been assigned a desk by someone from midnight shift. I'm not sure if the assignments were done by a Lead or Shift Manager. I was assigned [a] desk; which is next to [another] desk. I did not measure the distance between the Load Planner and my position. I expect it is about 6 feet; probably not any less. The Lead was assigned [a desk] with a similar separation of about 6 feet. The other 5 Load Planners working this morning had at least double the distance between them as the 2 Load Planner and the Lead at these 3 desks. The 3 of us were not happy with this arrangement. After loud complaining by several load planners for several minutes and my demanding that someone be moved; the Lead decided I could move to [a] desk which is across the aisle in the middle of 5 desks that were planned to be empty. This gave ample separation between the Load Planner and me.I don't know why this requires loud complaining. The midnight Shift Manager and/or Lead don't want to provide any flexibility in this matter; as this is at least the second day in a row with similar desk assignments with needlessly reduced social distancing. I understand there may be problems with how the phone calls 'roll' between the desks or how the teams are assigned. These issues don't seem that important at this time as our workload is very reduced due to the reduced flight schedule. These issues need to be fixed to provide a safer; cleaner work environment.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.