BRENHAM’S VALMONT FACILITY REPORTEDLY HAS VERY FEW COVID-19 CASES

  

After a call from a listener Monday, KWHI reached out to Valmont Industries concerning covid-19 cases at their Brenham facility.   Investor Relations and Corporate Communications Vice President Renee Campbell, responded this (Tuesday) morning that while Valmont does not share details of specific facilities, the current rate of infection among their global employee population is approximately 0.5%, or about 50 employees out of 10,000 total.  She added that the Brenham facility has had very few positive cases and that all Valmont employees who have tested positive are either recovering or have fully recovered.

Campbell said that the work performed at the Brenham facility lends itself to social distancing as employees do not work closely together.  She said that from the start of the pandemic, Valmont instituted the recommendations of the CDC including sanitizing high touch areas, implementing social distancing, issuing additional personal protective equipment, and curtailing all non-essential travel. She added that Valmont is considered an essential business and they are “proud of the employees in our Brenham facility for their hard work and resiliency over the past several months to continue serving our customers.”

Full Press Release:

At Valmont, the safety and well-being of our employees continues to be our top priority. At the outset of the pandemic, we quickly implemented enhanced protocols across all of our facilities, including Brenham, to protect our employees, customers, suppliers and communities. These protocols include recommendations and requirements issued by the CDC, WHO and local, state and national authorities, many of which are listed below.

Implemented safe distancing procedures and processes in all production facilities and administrative work areas
Increased frequency of disinfecting high-touch areas and high-traffic common areas
Provided additional personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies
Reinforced hand washing and infection control training
Implemented processes to track and isolate employees who report or show COVID-19 symptoms or exposure
Implemented actions to screen, limit or prohibit non-essential visitors to all facilities
Prohibited non-essential travel for all employees
Implemented remote work strategy for administrative teams to limit the number of individuals on campus
Valmont monitors health advisories on a continuous basis, particularly in areas reporting recent increases in infection

While we do not share specific COVID testing or recovery details for individual locations, the current rate of infection among our global employee population is approximately 0.5%, or about 50 employees out of 10,000 total, and the Brenham facility also has had very few positive cases. All Valmont employees who have tested positive are either recovering or have fully recovered. We feel our continued, deliberate safety actions in our facilities have helped keep our teams safe.

It’s also important to note that the type of production work we perform in our facilities already facilitates safe distancing within our plants. For example, welders typically have their own workstations, and many of our products are very large, which naturally increases the distance between people.

Finally I would add that Valmont is considered an essential business because of the products and services that serve critical infrastructure sectors and food security, as defined by many governments around the world. We are very proud of the employees in our Brenham facility for their hard work and resiliency over the past several months to continue serving our customers.

Best regards, and stay safe,

Renee Campbell