Amazon forbids its employees in Winsen, Lower Saxony, to wear FFP2 masks - although they cannot keep the minimum distance.
The employees fear for their health.
Winsen - It is forbidden to wear FFP2 masks at the Winsen Amazon site in Lower Saxony. The ARD magazine Panorama reported on Thursday (April 22nd). Only conventional disposable medical masks are allowed. And that although the employees cannot always keep the minimum distance. The online retailer fears longer breaks due to the FFP2 masks, which means that employees can process fewer orders. In fact, there is a medical recommendation to take a 30-minute break every 75 minutes without an FFP2 mask. This is confirmed by the statutory accident insurance (DGVU).
The only exceptions at the Winsen plant are employees who can show a certificate expressly stating that they must wear an FFP2 mask, according to the notice.
Amazon points out in a statement that "all measures go beyond the legal requirements."
Not an isolated case at Amazon: No paid breaks for FFP2 mask wearers in Leipzig
Amazon is one of the big winners of the corona crisis.
Since the beginning of the crisis, Amazon shares have almost doubled.
But the online mail order company is repeatedly criticized for its working conditions.
The panorama report shows once again that the Winsen location is not an isolated case.
FFP2 masks are not expressly prohibited at Amazon Leipzig.
However, the employees are not paid for the 30-minute break.
Instead, the time will be deducted from the overtime account, as confirmed by Thomas Rigol from the Amazon Leipzig works council.
The online mail order company still complies with all legal regulations.
Corona: No policy requirements for mask compulsory for Amazon and Co.
So far, politicians have not given companies any requirements in terms of masks.
A scandal, says Professor Klaus Dörre.
There is a two-tier society: “Some sit in the home office and others are forced to be present every day.
And one would expect that at least they would enjoy the best possible protection. "
In the past, therefore, there were repeated infections among the workforce.
In the Amazon distribution center in Bayreuth, for example, around a quarter of the employees were infected.
Supermarket employees are also particularly at risk: In the event of a corona outbreak in a Rewe branch in Bayreuth, 18 employees fell ill.
The doctor, professor and politician Karl Lauterbach always considers an FFP2 obligation in companies to be sensible when aerosol transmission cannot be ruled out.
"If the employers don't understand this, we will perhaps come to the point where we have to close the factories for a while," said the SPD health expert Lauterbach to Panorama.
FFP2 masks for or against?
Experts split opinion
The German Society for Hospital Hygiene (DGKH), however, is critical of FFP2 masks for laypeople.
Because the mask only provides better protection if it is worn properly.
Hospital staff receive special training for this.
The FFP2 mask must be flush with the face.
Beards would have to shave, for example, to ensure that.
In the opinion of the DGKH, if the mask does not fit exactly, it is even less effective than a conventional medical mask.
When used by laypeople, self-protection beyond the effect of a correctly worn mouth and nose protection is therefore not necessarily given.
German Society for Hospital Hygiene
Instead of the FFP2 mask, the doctors at the DGKH recommend “motivating the population to wear the mask correctly and to check that the previous mouth and nose coverings are tightly fitted”.
The tip: If you feel a draft on your face, you are not wearing the mask properly.
Christof Asbach from the Society for Aerosol Research is nevertheless convinced.
The expert told Panorama: “The FFP2 mask is the better choice if it fits close to the face.
[…]. ”If this is the case, the filter material works much better than that of a conventional disposable mask.
