Harol did not wait for government advice and temporarily halted all production

Diest sun protection specialist puts employee health first

Harol, one of the first major manufacturing companies in Flemish Brabant, has decided to close its doors until further notice. This means that since 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening, there has been no production of sun protection, garage doors, and roller shutters in Diest. In addition, the distributors“ stores have also been closed since Wednesday. ”A difficult decision, but the only right one if we want to protect our employees, their families, our customers, and our suppliers," said CEO Annick Draelants.

Harol employs more than 300 workers and office staff. Production has been at a standstill since Wednesday evening as a direct result of the coronavirus crisis. Harol did not wait for any decisions from the government, but took the drastic decision to temporarily close down itself.

CEO Annick Draelants: “Stopping production and closing our doors is the safest option we can offer our employees. In this way, we are taking responsibility not only for our office staff, but also for our workers who are unable to work from home. We stand in solidarity. Of course, we have already taken extra measures in recent times, but we felt that this was not enough to guarantee the health of our employees, customers, and suppliers to the maximum extent possible. That is why we have now given our employees the opportunity to organize themselves at home. With this decision, we want to do everything we can as an employer to curb the spread of the virus. After the decision was made, I received many heartwarming messages from our staff by email, post, and text message. We have also set up a closed Facebook group where we stay in touch with each other on a daily basis. I am convinced that we will emerge stronger as a company.

Harol's customers and suppliers were already informed on Tuesday evening.