Volkswagen is to offer its workforce voluntary corona tests and will be setting up walk-through containers to collect samples at its German locations. The company is thus doing its best to prevent the effects of a renewed outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19) and making a further contribution toward protecting against the spread of the virus. “For Volkswagen, protecting the health of our colleagues continues to have the highest priority. In the event of a possible second wave of corona, we want to be as best prepared as possible with this testing capability”, Board Member for Human Resources, Gunnar Kilian, said. “The aim is to identify cases of infection very early and systematically prevent the virus from spreading any further. That is fundamental to protecting the health of the workforce and avoiding the threat of another lockdown.” Currently, the infection status at Volkswagen AG is at a good level.
With its 100-point plan for maximum health protection, Volkswagen created the best possible conditions for a safe working environment. Thanks to the consistent implementation of the measures by the workforce, sites are currently at Phase three of four phases. This phase includes the easing of some measures compared with Phase 1, the highest level of safety. However, to continue supporting the fight against the virus, Volkswagen employees will in future be able to volunteer to be tested for Covid-19. The tests get underway at the Brunswick plant starting in week 31.
Testing will begin in Wolfsburg immediately after the works holiday, and will be successively rolled out at the other plants in the following weeks. All Volkswagen employees with corona-specific systems can request a test.
Specially-trained medical personnel from the health service will collect the necessary throat swabs. The test results will be available within 24 hours. Once employees have called to make an appointment, the swabs are taken in the specially-designed containers. The health service also uses medical information systems that have been coordinated with Group data protection.
Volkswagen health service has set up a test center in collaboration with Wolfsburg City Hospital to ensure adequate laboratory capacity for analyzing the throat swabs.
SOURCE: Volkswagen
