A warehouse worker at a large online retailer fears that the factory will not close down “until someone dies”.
The Boohoo employee, who works at the Burnley site alongside more than 1000 other people, said he is fearing for his family’s safety as he is required to continue working.
Speaking to LancsLive he claimed that people are so closely packed together they are ‘breathing in each other’s faces’ because the desks are not far enough apart.
Boohoo, however, has said that it has taken “extensive” steps to ensure that guidelines are adhered to.
“It makes no logical sense,” he said. “The desks are back to back to each other, you’re constantly breathing in each other’s faces just by looking up.
“There’s all of one metre between them if that and they are claiming they want people to be two metres apart.
“It’s crazy. There’s 1000 plus staff, if one person gets it there then we all will. They think we are essential and that people need clothes but that’s just not the case.
“They keep putting sales on to boost their sales. That’s not looking out for people that’s just rubbing salt into the wound.”
The man, who has a poorly son at home, said he is having to sleep on the couch at night to avoid spreading anything to his partner and children.
“If we don’t go into work we will be fired,” he added. “People have been sent home for coughing but by the time they have coughed, anyone that’s next to them is at risk.
“It could be the common cold or flu, but it could also be the virus.
“Workers feel like they won’t close until one of us dies, and by that point it will be too late.
“My partner thinks I should just take the time off but if I fail to work I will lose my job and I cannot provide for my family, it’s a catch 22.”
The warehouse is open 24 hours a day and hundreds of workers reportedly pass through on shift change in a space that is “less than a metre”.
“Customer services have been told they can work from home,” he added. “But they need to just lock the place down.”
A spokesperson for Boohoo said: “Since the onset of the challenges we all now face, we have closely followed the Government guidelines to keep everyone in our boohoo family safe and well.
“This has meant that amongst many other measures, we have transitioned the majority of our teams to working from home. We immediately identified those in a high risk category and removed them from the workplace for their safety and have closed all communal areas such as gyms and canteens.
“Where it is not possible for our teams to do their jobs from home we have implemented stringent hygiene and self-distancing measures and have lots of support in place.
“The steps we have taken in Burnley are extensive and we have our senior team monitoring the site continually to ensure adherence, it is therefore wholly untrue to suggest that we are not protecting the well-being of our team. The measures announced by the Prime Minister in the last 48 hours, still allows for those that are unable to work from home to travel.
“Like every other business in the country we are working around the clock to keep pace with Government guidance and do the very best for our people both socially and financially to keep them safe and well.
“Our team have shown incredible spirit and we are incredibly proud of them all. We have not categorised our people as key workers, we are simply following the guidance of government which at this time allows logistics to continue with the right precautions in place.”
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