We’ve been given the impression by the meatpackers that they were found hopping when the pandemic broke. That they had no way to prepare and be organized to prevent the spread of infection within their facilities. Other than a moral obligation to perhaps, slow the lines down and refit their facilities before outbreaks spread within their plants, I suppose they mean.
Oh! I guess the fact that they have been repeatedly warned that a pandemic was coming and how to be prepared for when one did happen for over a decade might have slipped their memory. As reported in ProPublica (and nicely summarised on FERN’s AgInsider) a recent investigation showed that infectious disease specialists and emergency planners since President George W Bush have been warning big businesses that a highly contagious virus would led to worker absenteeism and subsequent food shortages. EXACTLY like we saw in April.
I don’t know for some reason I thought a picture of steak might go well here. It does look tasty. What can I say? I’m vegetarian. Image from Pixabay.
The meat companies, and other businesses, were asked what their plans would be to prevent such a situation and consider things like stockpiling PPE for workers and have a plan for which facilities were crucial to keep open.
They did none of the recommendations from the Federal government; relying on “just-in-time” planning and “American Ingenuity”, which apparently means letting 10s of 1000s of workers to get sick and 100s of workers die.
DO NOT be like the meatpackers. Start disaster planning now! Don’t put your workers, your business and your customers lives on the line. Set up a call and we can chat. The first call is always free.
References
https://thefern.org/ag_insider/meatpackers-ignored-warnings-to-plan-for-a-pandemic-report-finds/
https://thefern.org/2020/04/mapping-covid-19-in-meat-and-food-processing-plants/