CAPE TOWN: Sea Harvest Corporation has implemented numerous measures to ensure that the Company together with all its employees, customers, consumers and other stakeholders are protected against the Coronavirus (COVID-19). The Company has been on heightened alert and response since reports about the increasing spread of the pandemic and the first case in South Africa in early March.
Effective 16 March 2020, the following measures have been adopted by the business:
- All international business travel has been banned and domestic travel restricted.
- Social distancing has been enforced with employees encouraged to maintain a distance of one meter from each other.
- Some meetings have been canceled and others have only continued where a small group of people are invited. In future, meetings will be restricted and, as far as possible, will be conducted remotely using telephone or video conference.
- More than one-thousand multi-strain flu vaccinations are being ordered for staff at the Group’s operational sites for delivery by the end of March. All staff, especially chronic care and immune-compromised patients, will be encouraged to have the vaccination.
- Dispensers with hand sanitiser are being made available at all areas identified as potential hotspots, including reception and security control areas and the on-site clinic at the Saldanha Bay plant, the base of the Group’s operations; however, staff are still encouraged to wash their hands with soap frequently.
- Surface areas, including desks and door handles, are be disinfected by the Company two times per day; entrances, including turnstiles and fingerprint readers, are being sanitised on a continuous basis until it can be replaced.
- Visitors and contractors are requested to use their own pen when signing the Visitors’ register.
- Persons showing a high temperature after hours will not be allowed access to sites and are being advised to seek medical attention – a medical nurse will be available for day and night shift staff at the Saldanha Bay plant from 6:00 to 22:00.
The above-mentioned measures are in addition to Sea Harvest’s standard world-class hygiene systems and cleaning regimes, which are conducted by an independent company. Furthermore, in terms of product safety, all Sea Harvests products adhere to an internal Food Safety Management System that complies with local and international regulations and standards. This system is audited annually by independent local and international auditing bodies.