Clear screens have been installed at Mowi Consumer Products UK, the company's secondary processing plant in Rosyth. Photo: Mowi.

How Mowi bids to keep virus at a safe distance

Mowi Scotland has highlighted some of the measures it has taken to ensure staff stay healthy during the Covid-19 epidemic.

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These include the installation of screens at processing plants in areas where it is not possible for workers to be two metres apart, and adjustments to shift start and finish times, so that there is a clear break between one group of people leaving and the next arriving.

Other measures include break adjustments to enable social distancing in communal areas such as kitchens and canteens, supporting individual working arrangements for key workers who have no access to childcare, and offering support for those who usually car share on their commute.

Joanna Peeling: "We are supplying more than 500,000 meals a day."

‘Remarkable achievement’

“It is a remarkable achievement that we are still getting a steady supply of salmon to retailers. We are supplying more than 500,000 meals a day and every one of our employees is contributing to that,” said head of human resources, Joanna Peeling, in this month’s edition of staff newsletter The Scoop.

Peeling said staff who could work from home were doing so, but there were others who couldn’t do so.

“Those directly involved in producing feed for our salmon; our farmers who are responsible for the fish in their care; and our processing teams; along with those supporting them with vessels and logistics, meet the government’s definition of ‘key workers,” said the HR boss.

“Every single one of these individuals contributes every day to the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland and the UK.”

Prioritising equipment

Peeling said Mowi had done everything it could to make the transition to working from home seamless by providing new equipment as quickly as it could source it, although not everything was available immediately.

“The supply chain for technology comes largely from overseas so, for example, new laptops or mobile phones are not easily available at the moment, but it is an ongoing process and we are prioritising according to the business-critical nature of each request,” said Peeling.

“In addition, we are asking managers to be as supportive and flexible as they can in finding ways to allow those with caring responsibilities to carry on working.”