Siemens Gamesa has resumed production at its blade factory in Hull today (1 April), after pausing operations on 24 March.
The company said it had reviewed and introduced a raft of stringent measures at the site in response to the spread of COVID-19. The measures include thermal imaging checks for all entrants to the site, redesigning work processes or additional PPE, including masks and gloves, for tasks for which these are not usually required.
“The raft of improvements to our safety protocols and processes is now implemented and will allow us to resume production from April 1st, in order to meet our commitments to customers and society without compromising the safety and wellbeing of our workers. That remains our number one priority and we will continue to keep all operations and protocols under review,” a spokesperson from the company said in an email statement.
Following employees returning to the Hull factory and resuming work, the Unite union issued a press release saying that the workers “should not be made ‘to pick up the tab’ for the pause in production to introduce a coronavirus safety regime.” Namely, Unite states that the employees were asked to either take holiday, work the hours back in the future, or to take an unpaid week off.
“Our employees in Hull have not been [financially] impacted by this production pause, and are able to work their hours back over several months. In addition, we have offered additional flexibility in work arrangements, to support employees’ domestic circumstances,” Siemens Gamesa’s spokesperson stated.