Is enough being done to keep food industry workers safe?

Food workers have been hailed “hidden heroes” of the pandemic by Defra secretary George Eustice for their vital role in feeding the nation.

Meanwhile supermarkets reacted to their staff’s efforts on the frontline by have handed out inflation-busting pay bonuses, while recruiting an army of tens of thousands of workers to bolster their ranks.

But as controversy rages over the lack of personal protection equipment (PPE) for doctors and nurses in hospitals, union bosses have accused retailers and suppliers of not doing enough to protect their workers too.

So, what measures have been taken, and do they go far enough?

The pressure to ramp up protection for workers followed shocking scenes of panic buying in stores, in which the GMB union reported “unprecedented” aggression towards staff charged with enforcing sweeping purchase limits.

“At the height of the panic buying, customers would be swearing,” one supermarket worker told the Edinburgh Evening News. “You would be called an effing numptie, all because you asked someone to please stand in a queue.”

But staff have also found themselves in the frontline of the disease itself, amid fears shops could be a coronavirus breeding ground.

After stockpiling reached its height, Public Health England published guidance on 25 March to make shopping safer for customers and staff.

This included using floor markings encouraging social distancing of two metres, especially around counters and tills, along with direction signs to help navigation and regular announcements about hand-washing.

But PHE also called on all supermarkets and retailers that could to place plexiglass barriers at tills and counters to protect workers and customers.

By then, some supermarkets had already announced plans to erect so-called “sneeze screens”. However, The Grocer understands such is the scale of the task, there are still hundreds of stores without them.

“We decided to install the screens less than two weeks ago and have worked night and day to design, source and install the screens as quickly as possible,” says Patrick Dunne, Sainsbury’s director of property. Sainsbury’s has had more than 100 teams installing screens in its stores.

David Dignam, MD of ITAB UK, which fitted protective screens for the Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Morrisons and Tesco, says retailers were quick to react.

“First one out the gate was Morrisons,” he says. “Typical Dave Potts. Strong at promoting itself as a food producer and looking after colleagues. They were very productive.

“Different retailers chose different strategies. Some, like Morrisons, wanted it all designed and fitted for them, others, such as Tesco, wanted a solution designed that could be fitted in each store by their own colleagues.

“The sheer scale of designing, sourcing material and manufacturing so many different types of items in such short timescales is unprecedented. All this has been done in three weeks from the first conversation with a major grocer.”

The task has been made harder by shortages of material. “The clear acrylic industry has completely run out of material,” says Dignam. “All gone. We’ve moved on to other materials such as polycarbonates, although [they provide] not as much transparency.”

How are the supermarkets doing on ‘sneeze screens’?

Tesco: Completed the rollout of 12,000 screens across estate by 5 April, on front and back of checkouts.

Sainsbury’s: Started on 20 March and completed the rollout of 17,500 screens by 6 April.

Asda: Began on 25 April and had completed rollout to 639 stores by this week.

Morrisons: Announced on 23 March, completed rollout of 9,000 screens across estate by 5 April.

Aldi: Began on 23 March and had over 7,000 in more than 1,000 UK & Ireland stores by 7 April. Expected to complete by end of 8 April.

Co-op: Announced on 31 March. “Almost all” 2,600 stores expected to have screens by 12 April.

Lidl: Announced on 24 March. Completed rollout of checkout screens to over 800 stores by 5 April.

Waitrose: Started fitting screens in the week commencing 30 March and had completed the rollout to all stores by 7 April.

Iceland: Rollout began on 30 March, following a five-day trial, and had reached 343 stores by 7 April. Complete rollout of around 6,000 screens to all 976 UK stores expected by April 19.

M&S: Announced on 25 March. Installation had completed across 566 Food Halls by this week.

Warehouse walkouts

But arguments about staff safety haven’t been confined to stores. While supermarkets ordered “vast quantities” of plastic to shield public-facing colleagues, arguments have raged about the safety of food workers elsewhere. Last week GMB reported it had staged a walk-out at an M&S warehouse in Swindon, run by DHL, alleged to be displaying a “cavalier attitude to health and safety”.

The union claims about 80 GMB members “downed tools” on 24 and 26 March over an alleged lack of precautions, which left workers “extremely frightened”.

“GMB shop stewards challenged managers about the impossibility of maintaining a two-metre distance, the lack of hand sanitiser and PPE,” says a spokesman. “They were shouted down.”

However, DHL “simply does not recognise the situation the GMB describes, nor its motivation in causing disruption when the country is united in fighting the Covid-19 virus”.

“Contrary to the GMB’s claim, no colleagues walked out,” a spokesman says. “We are open to independent inspection to verify our social distancing measures, following the government’s updated guidelines, and our operations are continuing, with close co-operation from our recognised trade union partner, Unite.

“Since the start of last week, the Swindon site has been following the government’s updated guidelines around social distancing, with clear enforcement by local management teams.”

“Staff are doing heroic work and it is vital we protect them”

“Shifts and breaks are now staggered, with hazard tape used to demarcate muster points, the transport desk and security huts. Canteen hours have been amended with a limit of one person per table, and the cleaning schedule upgraded to include regular sanitising of all touch points including tables, vending machines and microwaves. A new cab cleaning process has also been implemented and chairs removed from meetings rooms to comply with social distancing regulations.”

There was another fierce denial from Bakkavor, after the GMB called on the supplier to “radically reorganise production methods” at its west and north London prepared food plants, even if it meant slowing down food production, so they could adhere to social distancing rules.

The supplier, which has 25 factories across the UK, producing own label food for all of the UK’s major supermarkets, accuses the union of using the crisis to score political points. “The UK government has classified our employees as key workers, and we’re doing everything we can to keep the supply chain moving,” says a spokesman.

“We are adhering to PHE guidelines for social distancing, rest, changing and ancillary areas as well as specific PHE guidance for distancing in food manufacturing businesses, which recognises that all sites and manufacturing processes are different. These measures include the rollout of staggered breaks, extending designated smoking areas and creating greater space between colleagues in factory and packing areas.”

Bakkavor says it is working on “new and innovative PPE”, which is being trialled this week with a view to rolling it out across sites “imminently”.

“In the last week, there have been a couple of attempts by a few individuals and third parties to call our sector’s practices into question,” it adds. “Our view is that now is not the time to be scaring the public with political agendas or disrupting the supply of food.

“In this current period of national emergency, now is the time for the nation to pull together, for businesses to protect jobs as much as possible and to maintain essential food supply to millions of homes.”

Industry leaders insist that, while fears over staff safety are “legitimate”, companies are acting to follow the latest advice.

A Premier Foods spokesman says: “We’ve incorporated  social distancing wherever possible, restricted access to our sites, managed the flow of colleagues around our sites, whilst risk-assessing every manufacturing line to identify any extra measures we can take, such as installing Perspex screens on some production lines.

“We are working in partnership with the trade unions to ensure our people are working safely and we have their full support on the measures in place.”

Adds Greencore CEO Patrick Coveney: “Keeping our people safe is our number one priority. We started in an extremely strong position given that strict health & safety measures have always been at the core of what we do. Greencore has implemented a wide range of precautions and enhanced safety measures, with a particular focus on an extensive set of social distancing initiatives across our manufacturing and distribution network.”

Usdaw admits moves made by retailers and suppliers have left food industry staff in a “much better position” than in the early days of the crisis.

“We witnessed some absolutely horrific incidents, particularly in the panic buying stage which led to some shocking incidents of supermarket staff being abused by customers,” says a spokesman. “Clearly staff in the industry are still concerned about safety. They are doing heroic work and as key workers it is vital we do all we can to protect them,” adds a spokesman.

Masks

Questions remain, including one of whether shop and factory workers should all wear protective masks.

Further PHE guidance issued this week says masks are not recommended as an effective means of preventing the spread and advises against their use by supermarket workers.

However, the FDF says that, while the science may not back it, evidence has emerged that masks help morale and make workers feel safer.

“There is early evidence that issuing masks to staff helps with morale and could be a factor in fighting mass absenteeism,” says a source.

As supermarkets and big suppliers spend fortunes protecting staff, there are fears others on the frontline sometimes have no such luxury, however. Thousands of c-store owners have stepped up to provide supplies of fresh food and other items, sometimes when shoppers have struggled to get to supermarkets, with some reporting 50% year-on-year spikes in trade.

“Local stores are stepping up to the cause and are also heroes in this but they often have less protective measures in place,” says one industry expert.

The ACS says the majority of smaller shops are “doing a lot, and fast, to protect colleagues and customers”.

“We’re seeing stores taking social distancing rules very seriously, putting a series of measures in place in store to keep both colleagues and customers safe,” says ACS CEO James Lowman. “Many stores have installed Perspex screens, routes through the store, maximum customer numbers and a range of other measures.”

One c-store owner sums up what are no doubt the thoughts of many workers across the industry. “I hope the public will remember that we were there for them after this is all over.”