A West Virginia worker told us what it was like living at his factory for 28 days to help make PPE, and says he would 'absolutely' do another 'lock-in' to help

• Nick Bocook, 40, just spent 28 days living and working at his factory, ramping up production to protect healthcare workers dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
• Bocook was part of a group of four dozen men who took part in the "lock-in" at Braskem America in Neal, West Virginia, which ended earlier this week.
• His factory makes fabric out of the raw material polypropylene, which is used when making items like surgical masks and gowns.
• Braskem America instituted the "lock-in" to keep up with the demand for their product and protect employees from becoming sick from their daily commutes.
• Bocook has told Business Insider about the experience, from converting their offices into bedrooms, to enjoying elaborate catered meals, to bonding with his colleagues over barbecues and games.
• He also described the fear of catching the coronavirus from his colleagues and the surreal feeling of living in a "bubble" as the pandemic raged on outside.
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Earlier this week, 42 factory workers in West Virginia completed a 28-day shift — living, eating, and sleeping in their place of work — so they could ramp up production and safely produce material needed to make protective hospital gear around the clock.

Among this group was 40-year-old Nick Bocook, a production superintendent who volunteered for the massive "lock-in" shift, and spent nearly a month apart from his wife and 12-year-old daughter. He got home this past Tuesday.

Business Insider spoke to Bocook on Friday about the experience, and he described everything about the unique shift — from converting offices into bedrooms to eating elaborate daily catered meals.

Why Braskem America did the lock-in

Bocook's company, Braskem America, makes fabric out of a raw material called polypropylene. This product has become extremely important during the coronavirus outbreak since it's used to make the personal protective equipment (PPE) that healthcare workers wear to avoid getting infected, like N95 masks and gowns.

Due to a spike in demand for these items, some hospitals in the US — as well as in other countries — have been running low, forcing some workers to go without certain protections.

In order to keep up with the demand for their product, and to protect workers from becoming sick themselves, Braskem America instituted volunteer 28-day lock-in shifts, whereby employees live and effectively self-isolate at the factory, thereby also stopping traffic in and out of the facility.

(Another Braskem America factory in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, also did a similar lock-in with 43 workers last month.)

'Our main concern was not the health of ourselves but the health of everyone around us'

Bocook said a majority of workers at his facility volunteered for the lock-in, which split workers into blocks of two 12-hour shifts, one during the day and one during the night.

But since this was a unique situation, all the workers were paid for all 24 hours.

Bocook says the main reason why many of his co-workers volunteered was to lessen the risk of catching the virus at work and then potentially bringing it home to loved ones.

"Our main concern was not the health of ourselves but the health of everyone around us," he said.

"Some individuals had family members who were in a high-risk group, or they themselves were deemed higher risk, so we did what we could to protect them from being infected."

How to turn a polypropylene factory into a home

To turn the facility into both a factory and a living space, offices were converted into bedrooms for the 42 workers.

Bocook says a lot of men brought pictures of their families to make their personal spaces a little more comfortable.

There were a few highlights to the shift, including a water main break just days into the lock-in that wiped out most of their showers. Thankfully, that was fixed quickly.

Bocook's boss, Larry Kerrigan — who managed the group while working from home — said one of his workers also became a grandfather while he was participating in the lock-in.

About 14 days into the lock-in, everyone at the factory started to become more social with each other, Bocook said, since that was the end of the virus' two-week incubation period.

So in their downtime, they played cards, played cornhole, or barbecued on one of the grills and smokers that some of the workers brought with them.

They weren't hurting for food, either. Braskem America had hired a restaurant to cater all three meals of the day for the workers, and Bocook looks back on that cooking fondly.

"Every morning, there were biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage, and every now and then, French toast," he said. "For lunch, there was pizzas and some nice sandwiches."

"We were in there for Easter and they did a really good job with the ham, turkey breast, and mashed potatoes," he added.

"Very, very good cooking."

The food was so plentiful that they started donating their leftovers to a local charity after realizing how much food was going to waste.

'In our own little bubble'

Bocook said the biggest challenge "was really just the time away from home."

He also said it felt surreal to be isolated from the rest of the world when coronavirus cases were spiking in the US.

On April 1, when the lock-in began, the US had recorded some 220,000 coronavirus cases, per Worldometer. On April 28 — when the shift ended — the US had more than 1 million.

"We really didn't have an idea how significant stuff had changed outside with society. We were kind of in our own little bubble for a while," Bocook said.

The group ended their shift on Tuesday after making about 35 million pounds of their polypropylene fabric, according to Kerrigan.

(In a previous interview with The Washington Post, Braskem America CEO Mark Nikolich said that 40 million pounds of the fabric could be used to make about 500 million N95 masks or 1.5 billion surgical masks.)

'It was a pretty special thing we did'

Braskem America is one of many factories across the US which ramped up production, or even pivoted production, to help produce PPE.

Bocook said he would "absolutely" volunteer for another lock-in if needed in the future, even adding that he didn't realize how important his work was in the first place.

"I didn't realize how big of a deal it was until we started getting all of these media requests," he said. "We looked at it like we were doing what we normally do, nothing special. We were doing what we needed to do to protect our families, ourselves, and our co-workers."

"But when you take a step back you realize, yeah, it was a pretty special thing we did," he continued. "It gives you a very good sense of accomplishment to do what we did."

"By no means are we doing what others are doing — like healthcare workers on the front line — but we're glad to do our part to help them and supply them with the material they need," Bocook added.