With the unshakeable intention of ensuring the health and safety of its Team Members, JBS invested over R$ 100 million between the months of March and June in contingency health and safety measures, systems and processes at all its plants in Brazil. The resources were allocated to dozens of actions that are part of the Company’s prevention and protection protocol for more than 130,000 Team Members at the production factories, distribution centers, offices and other premises here. During this period, to ensure the measures were implemented and effective, JBS also undertook snap audits at its 135 production plants for an item-by-item verification of each action comprising its strict safety protocol.
To define its protocol, the Company hired a medical consulting company of specialist infectologists, like Dr. Adauto Castelo Filho, and benchmark institutions like the Albert Einstein Hospital who validated each phase of the Company’s protocol in accordance with the medical and healthcare recommendations and the stipulations of Inter-ministerial Ordinance nr. 19 (Ministries of Health, Agriculture and the Economy), dated June 18, 2020.
Furthermore – between March and June alone – JBS hired more than 10,000 professionals nationwide to take the places of Team Members who had been preventively confined to home for being part of the risk group, including pregnant women and the over-60s. Part of this group is also composed of Team Members in situations of heightened vulnerability, including indigenous peoples and those with a medical condition. All Team Members testing positive for Covid-19 are also immediately given leave of absence and remain away from their posts until they have fully recovered. When these situations arise, the Company’s health team provides full service to everyone, in addition to doing active searches among the Team Members, those they have had contact with and family members.
It is worth pointing out that the Company already monitors 100% of its employees on a daily basis, from when they begin their working day – from transportation, to access to the facilities, including shift changes, intervals, and meals until they return home, every Team Member is monitored – whether using anamnesis, having their temperature taken or visiting a laboratory.
“As a result, the procedures and precautions JBS has adopted at its plants are capable of providing the Team Members with maximum protection and are comparable to those in place at benchmark hospital institutions”, Dr. Adauto Castelo points out.
Here are some examples of the measures:
– A 49% expansion of the bus fleets. To impose distancing rules when transporting team Members, JBS has expanded the number of buses serving the round trip from its plants throughout Brazil – there are now more than 1.800 vehicles ferrying the Team Members. The seats are clearly marked, fixed and two seats apart. In addition, more than 2,000 digital thermometers have been purchased to take the temperature of the Team Members when they enter the bus and the plant, as well as a questionnaire (anamnesis) before accessing the vehicles.
– New Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). Besides the uniforms already used under industry sanitary and operational protocols, all JBS plants have been equipped with new protective equipment such as acrylic face shield masks, disposable masks and cloth masks. The use of masks is 100% mandatory in all areas of the Company. Over 180,000 face shields alone have been acquired over the last three months. In all, the Company has now purchased over 1,2 million PPE’s during this period. Team Members use the equipment during their entire shift, while those on the production line also have physical protective barriers to ensure they are physically and socially isolated.
– Detergents and sanitizers. To ensure that hands are properly sanitized, around 150 thousand liters of isopropyl (gel) alcohol were purchased and widely distributed in pedal-activated recipients easily accessible to all Team Members. Disinfection of the installations and buses has been intensified – with monthly consumption of more than 200 thousand liters of disinfectant products.
– Free vaccination against H1N1 for 100% of the Team Members. The health and safety departments at JBS have encouraged H1N1 vaccination of Team Members at all its Brazilian facilities;
– Hiring of healthcare professionals. The healthcare team at the facilities consists of more than 630 professionals, 40% more than before the onset of the pandemic. A further 192 healthcare professionals have been taken on, including doctors, nurses and auxiliaries, and are available to attend to Team Members around the clock.
Besides these measures, changes have also been made to the structure and the internal and external areas of the plants. Investments in equipment, and new facilities include:
Communication about the safety and healthcare protocols adopted at the facilities, as well as general information about Covid-19, has also been intensified. At each plant, at various points where Team Members stay or move around, there are informative and awareness notifications about the measures and attitudes required for preventing the disease at work, as well as clarifications to enable Team Members to protect themselves and their families when at home and on rest days. The tools used include broadcasting of messages on internal radio and TV, visual communication, signposting and alerts about distancing, the mural newspaper, and the intranet, among others.
Besides the internal investments of R$ 100 million at all its facilities in Brazil, JBS has announced donations of R$ 400 million to the fight against Covid-19 in Brazil. The funds are being channeled to three fronts: healthcare, social and science initiatives.
The Company is confident that all these measures are effective in protecting its Team Members against Covid-19 at its plants and in ensuring the supply and offering of the highest quality products to its clients and consumers in Brazil and worldwide.
This is a mission that cannot stop, since food production is on the list of activities essential for the population in the current context of the Covid-19 crisis. To find out more about the safety protocols of JBS go to: jbs.com.br/en/communication/covid-19-main-protective-measures/.