We are closely monitoring the global Coronavirus pandemic and are complying with and following all government and health authority recommendations and mandates. We want to reassure you that we are taking every possible precaution to ensure the safety of our Employees, Harvesters, their families and the community. During this unprecedented situation we remain committed to ensuring a sustainable food supply chain and will continue to work side-by-side with our Employees and Harvesters as we all face this challenge together.
Our company first started placing restrictions on our operations on February 28th and have consistently tightened the restrictions since. We have imposed restrictions that are more stringent than those of our governments and we will continue to do so in the best interests of our Employees, Harvesters, our families and communities.
What We’ve Done
We have actively encouraged proper personal hygiene at work and home: Frequent hand washing, cough into your elbow, avoid touching your eyes, mouth and nose. We have imposed self-isolation for travelling personnel. In our plant operations we have established social distancing (6 feet / 2 meter separation). Modified work behaviours, schedules and processes have been implemented throughout the company to reflect proper social distancing and isolation requirements. We have asked our people to practice these same preventative measures while at home.
We’ve eliminated all meetings in groups, we do not want our people to meet in any group size, staggered lunch times to ensure social distancing (6 feet / 2 meter separation), enhanced work area cleaning and disinfecting schedules and frequent cleaning of regularly used items such as tools, pens, iPads, phones, screens, and other items used by our Employees.
We have found innovative ways to increase the physical separation of our people, beyond what governments are recommending. We have suspended all business travel: international, regional and imposed a 14-day self-isolation protocol on any Employee returning from travel (business and personal).
We’ve moved all office staff to work from home who could work from home, restricted entry to facilities – external doors secured and monitored at all times, modified procedures involving delivery drivers – no access permitted and implemented enforcement protocols with adherence to restrictions to be enforced like every other safety issue.
The impact of the Coronavirus means that changes in how we work are necessary to protect everyone’s safety. As situations change, our company will make the changes necessary to ensure our people’s safety and well being.
Why We’re An Essential Service
The products we manufacture are used in the human food chain. All Governments have announced they do not want to disrupt activities associated with food products to ensure our food supply continues. Our products are used to grow crops and feed animals, which are part of the food chain used for human consumption. We have implemented numerous initiatives to protect our people and prevent the spread of the virus, while at the same time continuing our business operations to support and help ensure a functioning and responsive food and agriculture supply chain. We have an obligation to do our part during these challenging times to ensure we can continue to feed people around the world.
Going Forward
Rest assured we will remain diligent in our compliance with all government regulations pertaining to the Coronavirus. The President of the company chairs a leadership meeting everyday to review all of our efforts on the Coronavirus and every day we find ways to further improve and tighten our way of operating to protect our Employees and Harvesters. We will continue to operate with our pro-active and modified work procedures to protect our people, while following Government guidelines to continue our manufacturing operations.