Maple Leaf promotes health, safety and wellness

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This article was published 04/05/2022 (1592 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The past two years at Maple Leaf Foods have been a wild ride while navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Bunmi Alabi.

The health and safety manager, who joined the Brandon Maple Leaf Foods facility in February 2020, said stepping into the role just as the pandemic was declared was incredibly daunting.

“It was different because there wasn’t a template for the pandemic. Everybody in the world was learning on the fly,” Alabi said.

He said the company was scrutinized by the union and the province at first to make sure Maple Leaf Foods was doing everything in its power to keep employees safe.

Following a COVID-19 outbreak in August 2020, the company has since mandated full vaccination requirements for every employee by March 2022, and has stepped up to increase the safety of employees and employees’ families by running vaccination clinics, using dividers and managing social distancing in production.

With North American Occupational Safety and Health Week (NAOSH) in full swing, Alabi said it is a time to celebrate Maple Leaf staff for getting the plant to where it is today in a safe manner.

“It’s been fantastic in terms of seeing the resilience, the innovation, thought process of everyone and the dedication to keeping people safe and keeping the business running,” he said.

“Health and safety is one of the cornerstones of our business.”

Over in the maintenance department, Dean Rodwell, a tradesperson with Maple Leaf for 22 years and the chief union steward of the plant for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832, said the beginning of the pandemic was fearful for a lot of his coworkers.

“The unknowns, not knowing what was going to happen, and then you hear [of] people dying,” Rodwell said.

“The company and the union had lots of conversations and the company put a lot of things in place to keep things extremely safe. I have no problem saying this from day one, outside of my home, this was the safest place I felt.”

NAOSH week, which originally launched in 1997, is commemorated through the first week in May in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Plant manager Jim Brown said the week has been full of events at the facility, including a town hall discussion on health and safety where employees could voice their concerns over mental health and the workplace environment.

The manager said a common concern this week was employees expressing feelings of how to overcome loneliness and isolation as a result of staying home during the pandemic.

“I know a lot of the commentary around mental health was that we were able to keep running, coming to work was a mental relief to be able to do something outside of home,” Brown said.

Upstairs in the plant on Wednesday afternoon, dozens of employees were in attendance for the 12th annual trade show, which the company held to coincide with NAOSH week.

Spokespersons from Dynamic Physiotherapy, GoodLife Fitness, Westman Immigrant Services, Brandon Smiles Dentistry and other services filled the event space, in a function that has not been held since 2019.

For the 2,200 hourly workers employed at the Brandon facility, Brown said having each business in attendance gave new employees and families a chance to experience what the city has to offer for a support system and networking.

Lorna Lockhart, a community mental health worker for the Child & Adolescent Treatment Centre, said mental health is a critical part of health care right now at her booth.

“[It’s] being able to connect with people and let them know we are available any time for support,” Lockhart said.

“[It’s to] also address the stigma that people have around mental health and mental health care. Kids are a part of our community, and we want to help them.”

Lynsey Jensen, a mental health liaison nurse for Westman Crisis Services, said an event like this that gets everyone together in the same room is great to bring members of the community up to speed on every organization like theirs in Brandon.

At the Exhale Therapeutic Massage booth, Jodi Douglas and Paige Mains were excited to showcase their new business with their two additional co-workers. After opening in mid-March, both women said the exposure for their employees at the event is second to none.

“Even if it’s just coming in for an hour, just like a quiet time, it’s benefiting anyone in any way I feel like personally, you can’t go wrong with a massage,” Mains said.

Brown, who has worked in three Maple Leaf facilities during the pandemic — Hamilton, Winnipeg and Brandon — said from a production standpoint, the company has not slowed down to keep up with demand.

He noted the work that goes in every day to break the language barriers at a facility that is home to seven official languages all diverse in nature. English, Spanish, Mandarin, Ukrainian, Hindi, Gujarati and Tigrinya are all spoken at the Brandon plant, and each of those languages is used by at least 100 employees.

“We’ve gone out of our way to set up language classes. We have interpreters on staff here that help settle in newcomers that struggle with English as a first language,” he said.

Over the past week, Brown said three Ukrainian refugees were able to settle in Brandon and be welcomed as new employees at the facility.

The Brandon plant continues to remain in touch with the Ukrainian Association in the community, following the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, he said. The facility has continued to offer support to its Ukrainian employees in the form of time off or other measures to keep mental health in check, including a donation table of money and clothing.

The company is also continuing its employee and family assistance program (EAP).

“The program is setup to help our staff with challenges in their personal lives, if they struggle, be it anything from addiction, family issues, whatever types of issues they may have,” Brown said.

“We have EAP there to help them outside of whatever company benefits we provide to help them as a first line.”

» jbernacki@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @JosephBernacki