Media Release
25 June, 2020
Coles is working closely with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services after a second team member at Coles’ Laverton distribution centre in Victoria tested positive for COVID-19.
Both team members tested positive while self-isolating after family members returned positive tests. Any team members identified through contact tracing as having had close contact with them have been instructed to self-isolate and be tested for COVID.
A number of additional team members have chosen to self-isolate and undergo testing, and Coles supports their decision.
Coles is now working with the Health Department to facilitate COVID testing of team members who work at the site as quickly as possible.
While Coles’ standard cleaning procedures comply with government hygiene and safety guidelines, a number of additional measures are being implemented at the site.
This includes increased frequency of deep cleans of the facility, additional cleaning of high-traffic areas, and adjustments to shift times to minimise the number of team members utilising break room facilities at the same time.
All Coles distribution centres including the Laverton site already have thermal imaging cameras and hand-held contactless thermometers to check the temperature of all team members and transport providers prior to entering the facility.
Coles already has sanitiser stations at all entrances and exits and throughout the facility, and machinery operated by team members is sanitised between uses.
While team members at the distribution centre generally do not work in close proximity due to the size of the site and the nature of their roles, Coles has also reinforced the need for social distancing with visible guidelines throughout the facility.
The safety of our team members and customers is our number one priority. We wish to assure customers that health authorities have not identified food and groceries as a potential source of infection, and distribution centre team members do not manually handle individual grocery products, which are packaged in larger crates and cartons during distribution.
Click here to open a new window for more information on the measures Coles is taking to help stop the spread of COVID-19. If you would like more information on COVID-19 you can call the National Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080.
Source: Coles Group.