Keeping our colleagues safe at work has always been a top priority at Avara, and in these uncertain times, this is more important than ever.

As government-designated key workers, our colleagues are vital in helping keep Britain fed – we supply the nation’s favourite supermarket chains, so it’s essential our farms and factories continue operating.

Despite food manufacturing environments presenting some challenges when implementing social distancing, we’ve introduced measures and procedures across our processing plants to help keep our colleagues separated as much as possible.

Some of these are simple and help remind colleagues to keep their distance – we’ve marked out two-meter intervals in corridors, canteens and other shared spaces to discourage groups gathering, and spaced out seating in canteens and rest areas. Changing rooms and break areas have been extended so colleagues can spread more, and shift start and finish times have been staggered to reduce the volumes of people entering and leaving our sites at one time. Office teams are working from home where possible, but those who remain on site are evenly spaced across floors.

Further measures include installing protective screens and curtains along our production lines where standing apart isn’t possible – these screens help separate colleagues as they work. To protect the many colleagues who take advantage of the transport services we offer we’ve increased the number of buses and coaches we provide to aid better distancing during travel.

Our food production environments already benefit from stringent deep cleaning routines and the highest hygiene standards – despite this we’ve increased cleaning schedules to provide absolute peace of mind for our colleagues and customers alike. We’ve increased provision of colleague PPE

Keeping our colleagues protected is of the highest priority for us. Avara follows industry guidance from Public Health England for food manufacturing environments and is regularly reviewing measures to identify where improvements can be made. We’re proud to be operating efficiently and effectively during this time, and are grateful to our dedicated colleagues around the UK who are keeping the nation fed.