Maple Leaf Foods’ operations are continuing normally and the company is redoubling efforts to keep Team Members safe as winter approaches and COVID-19 cases in many North American communities are increasing.
Employee safety is our first priority and we are proud of the work environments that we are able to provide throughout our network. We have welcomed public health authorities into several plants for inspections and have received excellent feedback on our programs.
Every day, we seek ways to strengthen our protective measures even further. Our plants have transformed how they operate through mandatory COVID-19 screenings, daily temperature monitoring, face coverings, careful social distancing, plexiglass separators on production lines where possible, marks on floors to control movement in certain directions and efforts to decrease density, like staggered shifts and additional break space. These changes can be seen in a video about our efforts.
This Fall, we have provided important reminders urging our Team Members to stay focused on COVID-19 prevention. We have encouraged people to seek flu shots, provided tips on safe holiday celebrations and offered guidance on safe carpooling. We have provided face masks to Team Members to take home and share with family, friends and roommates and distributed 500,000 masks to the Brandon community in August when the community needed them most. Importantly, we have also worked hard to create a “stay home when sick culture.” Our message to our Team Members is this: When you take care of yourself, you take care of all of us.
We are committed to executing our business with excellence, protecting the health of our people, being vigilant in mitigating the risk of the spread of the virus and producing the food people need through these challenging times.