Union demands Stormont action after meat processing worker dies

The woman, in her 50s, was a member of the production staff at the company’s site in Dungannon in Co Tyrone.

There is no suggestion that the firm was at fault and it said “robust” measures have been put in place to keep workers safe.

Sean McKeever, regional officer for Unite the union, said: “Unite has now confirmed that a worker based in Moy Park Dungannon has died following contracting the Covid-19 virus.

“This is devastating news and we would like to extend our condolences to her friends and family.”

Moy Park is one of Northern Ireland’s main chicken producers.

It previously said it had identified seven measures aimed at enhancing social distancing, including staff taking staggered breaks and re-spacing communal areas and work stations as well as installing screens on production lines.

Mr McKeever said Stormont ministers should act urgently to bring forward an emergency response to what it said is a rising number of Covid-19 clusters in workplaces in the poultry and meat industries.

He said the woman’s death had sadly not come as a huge surprise.

“The Northern Ireland Executive must act now before it is too late.

“We don’t want to see a repeat of their inaction that led to the crisis and avoidable deaths in our care homes.

“There are particular challenges in meat processing factories which mean they need a sector-specific strategy.

“We want to avoid the risk of the industry facing the same crisis as in the USA and Brazil, where tens of thousands of workers have caught this virus.”

In March this year there was a protest walkout by some workers at the Moy Park site in Portadown.

Union officials claimed “up to 1,000” workers walked out. However, the company said that it was about 100 workers who returned to work after about 15 minutes.

Tonight Moy Park issued a statement about the situation.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of one of our team members,” a spokesperson said. “Our thoughts are with Luciana’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.

“The terrible impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to greatly affect everyone’s daily lives throughout our community.

“As we have consistently stated, the health, wellbeing and safety of our Moy Park team members is always our most important consideration.

“Moy Park worked quickly with all key parties (government, industry bodies, employees and unions) as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded. We evolved our actions to create and implement bespoke solutions early on, with many of them now recognised as leading the way for food processors. The key significant measures taken included the following:

:: Installation of perspex screens.

:: Social distancing / team member traffic flow on site.

:: Staggered breaks / socially distanced restaurants.

:: Enhanced cleaning and additional PPE.

:: Incentive payments to all site based team members.

“These measures have been in place for some time at all our sites and are stringently followed. These are also exactly the type of measures that government guidance is now calling for as other industries return to work. We continue to consult, evolve and review our measures to ensure rigorous safety, for example we are in the process of introducing thermal temperature scanning of all team members as they arrive at work.

“We reiterate, Moy Park follows all government guidelines and work closely with the Public Health Agency, DAERA and the Health and Safety Executive, adhering strictly to their advice and protocols. We have received positive feedback following a recent unannounced inspection by the HSE that was conducted at one of our other sites, which has the same measures in place to those at Dungannon. The inspection focused solely on the controls which we have in place to ensure employee safety in relation to COVID-19. We will continue to update our procedures in line with their guidance.

“We work tirelessly to protect the safety of our team and we formally review the situation daily. Finally, we just want to say how incredibly proud we are of all of our people, who truly deserve the name of being Food Heroes, as they aim to help feed the nation during this crisis.”