INTRODUCTION
The Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) has recorded more than 71,000 worker cases and 321 deaths linked to nearly 1,400 COVID-19 outbreaks at meat and food plants and on farms.
The pandemic has caused plants, like Tyson Foods, to temporarily shut down and employees to go on strike. For example, workers at multiple Washington packing plants demanded personal protective equipment (PPE) inside the facility as well as hazard pay for workers. As COVID-19 continues, food processing plants should be prepared in case they experience an outbreak (two or more positive cases).
Here is a checklist on how food processing plants can deal with an outbreak at their property.
HOW TO HANDLE OUTBREAK AMONG STAFF
- Contact your staff first. Maintain confidentiality of infected employees when informing other employees of their possible exposure to COVID-19.
- Issue a statement on your social media channels and your website.
- Create 2-3 talking points for your spokesperson (e.g. CEO/president) to use in case any reporters contact your company. Remind staff to redirect any interview requests they receive to the official spokesperson.
- Have sick employee(s) stay home and not return to work until they meet all the qualifications to end home-isolation, as required by CDC.
- At a minimum, have all employees monitor their symptoms and have employees who were potentially exposed get tested.
- Disinfect all work areas.
- If you haven’t already, modify the alignment of workstations so that workers are at least six feet apart and not facing each other, including processing lines.
- Reconfigure break rooms, locker rooms and entrances/exits to the facility to increase physical space between employees.
- To keep the essential work going, implement strategies to prioritize which positions should remain. For example, employers may be able to cross-train workers to perform critical duties at a worksite to minimize the total number of workers needed to operate.
- Moving forward, screen employees prior to entry into the facility.
- Identify a qualified workplace coordinator to be responsible for COVID-19 assessment and control planning. This person will then report to the union representative.
HOW TO HANDLE OUTBREAK AMONG EXTERNAL AUDIENCES
- Be in constant communication with external audiences regarding the outbreak.
- Make sure all safety and health plans apply to anyone entering or working in the plant (e.g. vendors, contractors, etc.).
- Halt all unnecessary actions (e.g. deliveries) until the outbreak is handled.
- If you haven’t already, create and post signs around the processing plant detailing your sanitization protocols.