Mid-Ohio Valley business sells removable barriers as affordable protection for workers

As Ohio Governor Mike DeWine lays out a blueprint to reopen the Buckeye State, business owners are doing their best to comply with his precautionary guidelines, including how they protect workers at the register.

Murray’s Glass in Marietta and its Parkersburg counter part Oesterle Auto are making portable poly-carbonate barriers, meant to protect employees while interacting with a customer at a counter. Murray's Glass employees say the smaller barriers can be thousands of dollars cheaper to buy than full sized sneeze guards like some restaurants have. Plus, they can be easily taken down and stored when the pandemic ends.

Murray’s Glass workers based their design off of some templates they found online.

“They're good for keeping people separated, from a sneeze or from some spit. We make them here, we cut them by hand, we grind them by hand, we piece them all together. We're just trying to do our best to keep up and help,” said Zach Delo, a Murray’s Glass employee.

Delo says it only takes workers about 20 minutes to make one of the barriers.

Murray’s Glass owner Dennis Farrar says in just one day his shops prepared around 75 barriers for area businesses.

“There’s a demand, a big demand. I think everyone is getting ready to reopen and they want that safety for their customers and their employees,” said Farrar.

Other creative business owners have been making homemade shields for their businesses. Baker & Baker Jewelers owner Larry Hall made his out of Plexiglas and wood.