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Carroll Cuisine Suspending Operations In Offaly

Monday, 10 August 2020 15:11

It comes after the spike in covid-19 cases in the area.

Carroll Cuisine is suspending operations at its meat processing plant in Offaly.

It says the break will be taken over the days ahead while the results of covid-19 tests carried out on staff yesterday are being evaluated.

Tests completed last week show that 9 of the 330 employees in Tullamore have tested positive for coronavirus.

The company insists employees will continue to be paid as normal while operations are suspended.

 

Full statement from Carroll Cuisine:

 

Carroll Cuisine will suspend operations to support measures by the public health services to prevent the spread of Coronavirus in the community.

Kieran Carolan, Chief Executive of Carroll Cuisine said, “The health, safety and wellbeing of all our people and our wider communities is an absolute priority for us at all times.”

“We have been working closely and co-operatively with the HSE and, while positive case levels among our staff are low, we believe that the best approach is to take this break in operations over the days ahead until we can evaluate the results of comprehensive tests which were undertaken for our staff on a precautionary basis yesterday in co-operation with the HSE.

“Through the independent testing that we also conducted and completed last week, a total of 9 employees from our workforce of 330 (2.43%) to date have had positive tests for COVID-19 and are self-isolating.

“We note that a number of Government and health service sources have said factories should close wherever there are any cases of Covid. However, it’s essential that while closures may be envisaged, the industry will need to continue in operation to supply food and facilities will need to reopen once any particular situation is contained and brought under control. Clear guidance is required on the measures, procedures and roadmap envisaged by the Government in this regard.

“We welcome proposals by the Minister for Agriculture for a 14 day recurring testing programme for the meat sector and we will participate fully in any such initiatives. This will help to monitor, suppress and prevent the virus, keep people safe and protect employment when we reopen in due course following the current precautionary measures.

“Our employees will continue to be paid as normal. We are very grateful to our staff for their excellent dedication and commitment and for the support and encouragement of our communities however we believe this temporary suspension of operations is the best course of action at this time.”

 

Further information:

Since the first outbreak of Covid-19 in Ireland we implemented stringent hygiene, health and safety measures to protect our employees and to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Together with all of our colleagues, we successfully managed to keep the virus out of our business over several months.

The very first case we recorded among our workforce arose where a colleague consulted their GP and subsequently tested positive on 31st July.  Acting responsibly and proactively, they had told us about their symptoms immediately when they first noticed them and had self-isolated.  In line with our advance contingency planning, we immediately tested all staff, using an independent laboratory service.

As noted above, through the testing we conducted and completed last week, a total of 9 employees from our workforce of 330 (2.43%) to date have had positive tests for COVID-19 and are self-isolating.

We are doubling and redoubling our efforts to stop any spread of the virus.

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