‘People were dropping like flies around us, we were scared to breathe’
FRIGHTENED WORKERS FELT LIKE ‘CANNON FODDER’ AT VIRUS OUTBREAK CHICKEN PLANT
TERRIFIED workers at a coronavirushit Anglesey abattoir yesterday told how they were “scared to breathe” as colleagues “dropped like flies” around them.
The 2 Sisters chicken factory in Llangefni was shut for two weeks last Thursday as the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases at the plant mounted.
More than 175 workers have already tested positive for the disease with the Army conducting mass testing at sites in Llangefni, Holyhead and Bangor.
The first worker fell ill at the end of May. By June 12, three workers had tested positive and dozens of others were off self isolating.
The infections then rose rapidly with 12 reported by last Monday and more than 50 by Thursday when the decision was taken to close the site for two weeks.
Since then more than 400 workers have been tested at Army run mobile testing sites – with 175 confirmed cases by yesterday – showing the scale of the problem.
The company says it introduced a raft of measures to protect workers from the virus.
However workers, who did not wish to be named, have told about life at the factory as coronavirus took hold and what they believe went wrong.
One worker said the situation was “terrifying”.
He added: “We could see people around us catching it and going off ill, and we had to carry on, scared to breathe at times, knowing it was in the air around us.”
Another added: “We felt like cannon fodder in there.
“People were very frightened, especially the older ones.
“Word spread very quickly along the line when people tested positive.
“This caused utmost distress and alarm.”
One worker said: “It is a frightening situation when the people you are working with are dropping like flies. We have families to think about.”
The workers claimed social distancing was not implemented in production areas with groups of three working side by side - often rotating.
He said: “The two metre rule is enforced in corridors and the canteen but staff were only there for very short periods of the day, the big problem is there was no two metre safety provided in the production areas and staff were forced to work within inches of others.”
They said visors given to them had holes cut in to prevent ‘steaming.’
In response 2 Sisters said a raft of measures were introduced in response to the coronavirus crisis in the UK.
The company said the mandatory wearing of face visors was deployed across the site where social distancing measures could not be maintained - with an alternative version
introduced in areas affected by misting.
They said production line partitioning and screening was installed and colleagues limited working face to face where practical to do so.
They said there was increased distancing on the thigh line.
A 2 Sisters spokesman added:
“Managers told them to self-isolate even if there was barely any contact for super safety. The numbers off before closure clearly show (it was getting close to 40% off) people were actually hounded to go home and self-isolate.”
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