Negative Covid test for workers

NEGATIVE TEST: Two Borg Manufacturing employees will remain in isolation for the next week after being identified as close contacts of a Covid positive truck driver who attended the site.

By Raquel Mustillo

TWO employees at Borg Manufacturing have returned negative Covid test results after being identified as close contacts of a truck driver who was infectious with the disease, the company has confirmed.

Borg chief executive Jim Snelson told The Border Watch the two warehouse personnel will remain in isolation for the next two weeks as a precautionary measure and will undergo Covid testing for the duration.

Earlier this week, Borg Manufacturing advised staff that a Covid positive truck driver was at its White Avenue despatch area last Friday from 4.45pm to 6.45pm.

The company said the driver – who was not an employee of the company and was wearing a mask – had been in contact with one person, while another employee was identified as a potential contact.

Mr Snelson said all drivers travelling interstate are required to undergo Covid testing three times a week, with the individual advised of his positive status after leaving the Mount Gambier site.

“The driver had been tested the previous weekend and returned a negative test at the beginning of last week,” he said.

“The driver was tested again on Thursday morning of last week and his positive test result was not received until Friday night after he left Mount Gambier.

“We have been liaising with SA Health and abiding with their directions and they have requested our staff members self-isolate for 14 days and continue to get Covid tests over the 14 days as a precaution.

“I have spoken to the driver a couple of times and the good news is he is well and not feeling too sick.”

Mr Snelson praised the actions of the driver and Borg employees, saying all parties had complied with the company’s Covid-safe plan, including minimal contact and socially distancing.

He said the company and SA Health had reviewed video footage from the warehouse, as well as undertaking interviews with staff members, and found two employees had contact with the driver while on site.

“We have installed a Perspex window to separate the drivers from the staff so when they exchange paperwork, it’s through a slot,” he said.

“We have set up separate facilities for drivers who come to our site such as toilets and tea and coffees which are only used by drivers.”

Mr Snelson said the warehouse and driver facilities areas have since been deep cleaned, with SA Health advising the company it was satisfied with the actions of Borg and the application of the Covid Safe Plan.

South Australian chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said authorities liaised directly with Borg and had identified it as a non-public exposure site.

Prof Spurrier said potential exposure sites were only publicly announced when there was a risk to the broader public.

“Don’t be concerned if [the site] is not listed on our public website because we would have gone directly to those organisations, looked at their CCTV, pulled that and worked out who their close contacts are,” she said.

“Because the freight industry is a very well-organised industry, often the driver has already contacted through their company and there’s already information that has gone back to the particular non-public exposure site even before we’ve been told by New South Wales.

“There is no need from a public health point of view to be giving that information out.”