Enlarge image
Temporary dormitory in the Wien Energie plant Spittelau (March 2020)
Photo: Wien Energie
Simple beds in a converted meeting room: in a few days, Wien Energie employees will be sleeping in this environment.
The Austrian energy supplier is preparing the barracking of 50 employees in a power plant and three waste incineration plants from January 7th, as the company reports.
Then the employees should initially live, work and stay overnight at the locations, isolated from the outside world and divided into fixed teams for four weeks.
The background to this is the spread of the omicron mutation and the prognosis for high numbers of infections and Quran.
"This step is far-reaching, but necessary in order to be able to guarantee security of supply under all circumstances," says company boss Michael Strebl.
The top priority is "that the heating of the Viennese is warm and that the light goes on at all times".
The isolation teams have already been determined and they will receive comprehensive medical care and preparation in the coming days, the energy provider said.
In the plant locations, beds, kitchens, washrooms and leisure rooms are available to employees.
In Germany, too, the Federal Government's Expert Council has expressed concern about the critical infrastructure in view of the highly infectious Omikron mutant. This could be "extremely stressed" by the absence of many sick or quarantined employees, it said in a statement of the committee a few days before Christmas, so the protection must be prepared comprehensively and immediately. In addition to the energy supply, the critical infrastructure includes hospitals, police, fire brigade, rescue services, telecommunications, water supply and the corresponding logistics.
The electricity company E.on, for example, also includes the possibility of barracking employees in power plants in its preparations.
At the beginning of the pandemic in spring 2020, E.on employees in a network control room lived and stayed at their workplace for some time.
Wien Energie also has experience with insulation to protect against infection.
In March of last year, employees were temporarily moved to their workplaces.
fdi
