Fines threat to call centre whose staff caught virus

call centre bosses face the threat of sanctions or fines after eight staff tested positive for coronavirus.

The Sitel-run call centre at the Eurocentral business park near Bellshill, lanarkshire, which carries out contact tracing for the NHS in England, was closed down after an outbreak.

Yesterday, a staff whistleblower raised concerns about how social distancing rules were broken.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said he wanted more information from the office’s operator about why it was open despite government guidelines stating that call centres should still be closed.

asked on the BBc Good Morning Scotland programme if penalties could be levied against Sitel, Mr

Swinney said: ‘These are all issues that will be explored, but what our primary focus is on is to make sure that we interrupt any transmission of the virus.’

He said the outbreak was a matter of ‘serious concern’ and that there appeared to have been ‘transmission from within the facility’.

contact tracing work is now under way for some of the staff, who would normally provide that role.

Mr Swinney said investigations would be required to understand how guidance was being followed within the facility.

In Scotland, the advice is that non-essential offices and call centres will not be advised to reopen until some time after July 31, although those providing ‘a service that is essential to the health and welfare of the country’ may remain open. any businesses found to have breached the rules could face fines of up to £10,000.

The outbreak at Sitel was discovered on Sunday morning, with all staff asked to work from home and being offered a test for covid-19.

Yesterday, a 19-year-old woman who started working at the centre days before lockdown, and who has now tested positive, said staff members breached distancing rules.

The woman, who used to work on the Test and Trace team, said workers did not always follow guidance on social distancing and she thought staff on the Test and Trace team were more ‘lax’. She said that there were social distancing measures in place but a lack of seating in communal break areas meant staff would often sit together.

an NHS Test and Trace spokesman said: ‘We are aware of a local outbreak of covid-19 at the site. This is being managed by Sitel and colleagues in NHS lanarkshire.’

asked about the comments from Mr Swinney and the staff member yesterday, Sitel referred to a statement issued on Sunday which said: ‘We are aware of a local outbreak of covid-19 at our site in Motherwell. We are urgently investigating this alongside colleagues in NHS lanarkshire.

‘We take the safety and wellbeing of our staff very seriously. Everyone who has been working at the site, we have requested that they book and complete a test within the next 24 hours. The site has been deep cleaned and all social distancing guidelines have been followed.’

Meanwhile, latest data shows there were seven new positive covid-19 cases across Scotland yesterday – a reduction on 23 on Sunday and 21 on Saturday.

There were no new deaths of people who had tested positive.