Caravan company confirms 14 staff have coronavirus
ANOTHER 26 ARE ISOLATING
A HULL caravan manufacturer has confirmed 14 staff members have tested positive for Covid-19 and 26 more are isolating within the past fortnight.
Yesterday, Willerby Ltd confirmed they had “felt the impact of the recent increase in Covid-19 cases across the Hull region”.
Last week, Hull became the country’s worst affected area for weekly coronavirus infections as rates soared to well above 700 cases per 100,000 people.
But while Willerby Ltd maintained that policies, including social distancing and staggered start times, were in place to keep staff safe, employees were critical over how the outbreak had been handled.
One staff member, who did not want to be named, said the spread of the virus within the company had been caused by a lack of communication and insufficient contact tracing.
“One bay has had three positive cases and partners have tested positive as well,” he said.
“The surrounding bays have now had positive cases and while people do work in close contact, which sometimes can’t be helped, workers who they spend all day with, working and breaks, have been told to continue working for the ‘good of the business’.”
He said the company had also been receiving a surge in orders recently, which had cultivated a mentality among staff of having to get the work done at all costs.
“After coming back to work from furlough, the company handled it really well and moved with the ongoing situation,” he said.
“Now production has increased over the past few weeks, management attitudes have changed as things have to be done for the good of the business.
“Since record orders have come in and production’s gone up, it’s a ‘get it done as quick as you can’ attitude.”
Willerby, meanwhile, insisted that it had a “clear” Covid-19 policy, which was routinely communicated to staff.
A spokeswoman for the company said: “Willerby, as a large local employer, has felt the impact of the recent increase in Covid-19 cases across the Hull region.
“The majority of our 14 Covid19 positive cases from the past two weeks are confirmed as being from household transmission or as a result of our staff being contacted by NHS Track and Trace.
“We have a further 26 people in self-isolation as a result of them being in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19; either a family member or as a workplace precaution.
“Included in this category are staff who are isolating following instances of car sharing where an employee has subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.
“Following our internal investigations, all employees in the same cars have been instructed by the company to self-isolate.
“Willerby’s Covid-19 policy is clear in that it recommends that employees do not car share unless they are from the same household.
“Furthermore, all employees are temperature tested every day as they enter our sites, and are regularly reminded to wash hands frequently, making use of the additional wash facilities and sanitiser stations installed across all of our production lines and throughout our office buildings.
“We encourage social distancing at a two metre distance at all times and have staggered start, arrival and break times across production to minimise overcrowding in car parks, at clock-in machines and breakout areas.
“Our employees receive regular communication reminding them of the policies we’ve put in place via our weekly ‘Time Out For Safety’ briefings and we carry out regular audits to ensure our safe working practices remain in line with the latest government guidelines and they are being adhered to at all times.
“This also encourages regular employee feedback, which gets reviewed by senior management weekly.”