As a small town in Belgium became one of the most important vaccine sites in the world, in the global fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19 virus), the G4S team in Puurs was ready to scale up rapidly, to meet the growing demand for security on site.
At the beginning of 2020, nobody in the Belgian town of Puurs, located between Brussels and Antwerp, could have known how globally significant a role their small town would come to play in the year that followed.
COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing facility
Mostly known for producing the strong Belgian beer, Duvel, Puurs has also been the home of one of Pfizer’s largest production and packaging sites worldwide for over 50 years. In a normal year, before COVID-19 was a concern, the American pharmaceutical company produced more than 400 million doses of vaccines and medicines in Puurs every year.
Now, with the global COVID-19 pandemic continuing to cause devastation across the world, Pfizer has become a household name, synonymous with one of the leading COVID-19 vaccines being distributed worldwide, in order to help countries emerge from the crisis.
G4S security services
For the last ten years, G4S has been a proud part of the team providing security services for the site in Puurs, Belgium
For the last ten years, G4S has been a proud part of the team providing security services for the site in Puurs, Belgium. However, the security solutions provided have changed substantially since then.
“There has definitely been a significant evolution over the years in G4S’s role for Pfizer at Puurs,” said Dirk Clauwaert, Senior Operations Coordinator for G4S Belgium, adding “When we started out we were only contracted to provide on-call security. Now, we have a fully integrated security solution at the site that gives Pfizer’s employees and assets a very high standard of security.”
Site safety and security
The high standard of security recently caught the attention of King Filip of Belgium’s personal security team, during a visit to the Puurs site, who congratulated the G4S team for the sophisticated security measures, keeping the site safe and secure.
The solutions that G4S provides at all hours at the site include camera surveillance, access control, safety checks, security officer patrols and response, and personnel checks of anybody attending the site.
Highly robust service and operational excellence
“We’re especially proud to have played our part at a site that has become so globally significant due to the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Dirk Clauwaert, adding “The site has had to expand substantially, with many new buildings and car parks. We’ve ensured our security operations are flexible and can scale up as needed to meet any extra requirements.”
The G4S Puurs team was also awarded the G4S Excellence Award for the Best Performing Security Site across Europe and the Middle East for 2020.
“Pfizer demands a highly robust service with operational excellence,” said Ciaran Comiskey, G4S Director of Global Operations, adding “The G4S team has always strived to meet and exceed this expectation, in particular, during the ongoing COVID -19 pandemic.”
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