Ford Reopens Cleveland Casting

    BROOK PARK, Ohio, March 19 Ford Motor Company's
Cleveland Casting Plant will reopen with the midnight shift tonight following
three days of rigorous disinfection work on the building and its production
lines.

    "Health authorities have assured Ford that the disinfection process has
made this plant safe for our employees, whose health and safety is our highest
priority," Plant Manager Tom Thieman said.  "As the employees return, we are
briefing them on the comprehensive steps we have taken to protect them."

    The reopening follows a complete review by federal, state and local health
authorities, who are trying to find the source of the Legionnaires' disease
bacteria that has infected four plant employees.  Two have died and two are
recovering.

    Ford closed the 2,500-employee, 1.6 million -square-foot plant last
Wednesday night after confirmation of the third infection.

    "Our hearts go out to the families of Donald Tafoya and David Hinderman,
our fellow Ford employees who passed away, and to the employees who are ill,"
said Roman Krygier, Ford vice president, Powertrain Operations.

    Clayton Group Services Inc., an independent environmental safety
consulting firm based in Novi, Mich., supervised a three-day-long cleansing
and disinfection process that ended Sunday.  Ford hourly employees represented
by the UAW, and salaried employees, worked under Clayton's direction.

    The disinfection involved spraying and soaking machines, pipes, valves and
water tanks with chlorine and other chemicals, and using scalding water to
clean water systems, a process known as heat pasteurization.

    Before the disinfection began, Ford gathered 114 biological samples from
the plant and the federal Centers for Disease Control took samples at 43 of
those sites.

    On site during the sampling and disinfection were officials from: the CDC;
the federal Occupational, Safety and Health Administration; the Ohio
Department of Health; and the Cuyahoga County Board of Health.

    The source of the bacteria that infected the employees has not been found.
Identification of a source involves matching the strains of Legionella found
in a sampling with the strain found in an infected person.

    "The health of our employees has been driving everything that we have been
doing here since we closed the plant," Krygier said.  "The cleansing process
has been extremely thorough, and all the authorities on site have documented
that."

    Krygier said that a stepped-up regimen of regular testing and preventative
maintenance will become part of the maintenance process at all Ford plants.
"We have a plan and we are committed to it," he said.

    Krygier applauded the role of the UAW and the health authorities.

    "Ford and our UAW members have been working around the clock to make this
plant safe," said Willie Hubbard, president of UAW Local 1250 in Brook Park.
"We feel confident that a thorough disinfection has been accomplished."

    "Clayton Group is confident that any disseminators of Legionella bacteria
that may have been present at the Ford plant have been adequately remediated,"
said Mark Hodgson, senior project manager for Clayton.

    The Cleveland Casting Plant employs 2,224 hourly and 276 salaried workers
and makes iron engine blocks, heads, crankshafts and bearing caps for a
variety of Ford engines.  It opened in 1952, produces 1,000 tons of iron
castings a day and has an annual payroll of $221 million.