Covid cases at local firm
Seven members of staff at a pharmaceutical company in East Kilbride have tested positive for COVID, workers claim.
Now senior management at Et hi gen have left the site to work from home – but warehouse staff are expected to continue working on site.
And one whistleblower told the News it is “becoming a very scary place to work”.
The worker, who wishes not to be named, told how staff saw cleaners in “full white suits” coming down the stairs with “fog machines” at the start of their shift on Monday, with the top floor offices being fumigated.
Staff entering the workplace were told of the positive cases, believed to include the managing director, Nigel Kelly, and two responsible persons. No formal confirmation is believed to have been offered to staff.
Our source said: “Nigel called a meeting last week specifically about COVID-19.
“We all had to go into a room and have him talk about what to do, the spread of it etc. and he never wore a mask the whole time.
“Since March, when a lot of people got furloughed, they cleared up the stairs and sent telesales staff to work from home. But warehouse staff have been working on site throughout.
“There are measures in place – we all have gloves and facemasks, hand sanitiser is available, and there are panels up in between scanners.
“But the pickers, the ones sorting the order, there’s no social distancing. When the 5pm shift comes in, it ’s like a cattle market in there.”
That was backed up by another worker who called to tip off the News, adding that environmental health officers were “appalled” at how the warehouse was running following a check.
Our second source added: “Nigel got us all in a room last week and stood with his mask off, and in the same sentence told us that masks must be worn at all times.
“He told us about his elderly dad and how he didn’t want to become infected and pass it onto him. It was ridiculous.”
Staff were told to make “no comment” to members of the press if approached, with a third source telling us they were threatened with their job if caught speaking out.
Founded by pharmacist Mr Kelly in July 2000, Ethigen provide independent pharmacies across the UK, and supply to many high street pharmacies.
Nigel Kelly, managing director at Ethigen said: “I can confirm that we have experienced a small cluster of cases linked to staff working in our office and we are working closely with the relevant authorities to help manage the situation.
“After the cluster was identified, South Lanarkshire’ s Environmental Agency conducted a full inspection of the office and warehouse areas on Monday afternoon. All office staff, including senior management, were advised to work from home at this time.
“We have been in dialogue with the authorities since then and Dr. Martin Donaghy, public health consultant, has in fact confirmed that we have robust control measures in place.
“Our priority continues to be the health of our staff.”
Dr Martin Donaghy, NHS Lanarkshire consultant in public health, said: “A small cluster of Covid cases has been identified at Ethigen Ltd, a pharmaceutical distributing company in East Kilbride.
“NHS Lanarkshire’ s test and protect team is in the process of identifying all close contacts of the cases who are being given public health advice and being told to selfisolate.
“NHS Lanarkshire is working closely with South Lanarkshire Council and Ethigen and we are confident robust control measures are in place within the company. The cluster does not relate to a public facing service and there is no risk to the wider community.”