Response by Smithfield
[full response attached]
6 July
The report inaccurately states that our facility in Starachowice, Poland, temporarily closed. To clarify, while some areas of the facility were shut down for a short time, the facility continued to operate and remains operational.
At the core of Smithfield’s COVID-19 response is an ongoing focus on employee health and safety, and continued adherence with the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Inspection (SANEPID) guidance. Here is a list of the aggressive measures we have taken to protect our employees in our Poland facilities:
- Adopted a series of stringent and detailed processes, protocols and protective measures that follow, and in many cases exceed governmental requirements
- Boosted personal protective equipment (PPE) to include masks and face shields
- Installed plexiglass and other physical barriers on our production floor and in break rooms...
- Implemented mass thermal scanning systems...
- Increased social distancing...
- Adjusted the start and end time of shifts
- Added abundant hand sanitizing stations
- Enhanced cleaning and disinfection
- Explicitly instructing employees not to report to work and recommending they contact a health care center or SANEPID if they are sick or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms
- Requiring sick employees to stay home and isolate
- Offering all quarantined employees paid leave equating to 80% of an average of the last 12 months’ salary...
- Offering paid leave for all employees age 60 or above and/or disabled and/or at higher risk for serious complications from COVID-19...
- Providing an extra governmental nursery care benefit...
- Instituted additional sanitary precautions and rented additional flats to support social distancing in areas where housing is provide...
- Stressing importance of personal hygiene
- Posted employee communications in multiple languages...