We implemented a specific COVID-19 HSE policy at the outset of the virus and have updated that policy regularly as the situation has developed, ensuring that we have the right protections in place for all our people and our clients at the right time.
As countries move beyond the immediate post-lockdown phase, with further relaxation of restrictions, greater movement of people in society but an ongoing risk of infection or new outbreaks, we are preparing for this by launching our updated Post-Lockdown HSE Policy across all our sites today.
Key aspects of our Post-Lockdown HSE policy are that:
- The very extensive control, hygiene and prevention measures we put in place going into lockdown – including COVID-19-related sanitisation of our facilities will continue.
- All employees are required to wear face masks, including when commuting on public transport and travelling for work – and we have secured supplies of these for all our people.
- We will maintain a minimum social distancing of at least 1m (or greater, if required by local law) between people in our facilities.
- We will continue to ask visitors to our facilities to comply with certain health and safety requirements.
- We will continue to have a complete restriction on international business travel by our people.
- All employees who visit client or field locations are required to wear a face mask and comply with our own control, hygiene and prevention measures at a minimum.
In addition to our COVID-19 HSE policy, we have issued extensive communications to all our people in line with World Health Organization’s guidance on how to minimize the risk of viral infection to them and others by taking effective hygiene measures and avoiding situations where the risk of infection could be heightened.
The actions we have taken globally include:
- Health alerts and guidance to our colleagues, including a detailed “Novel Coronavirus Control and Prevention Manual”.
- In accordance with this manual, we have hygiene and other protection measures in the workplace, at home and at customer locations for field-based colleagues.
- When conducting field-based Health assessments for factories, vendors or customer sites, we will be asking our partners to first confirm they have no suspected cases of coronavirus and have taken their own precautionary measures before we deploy our people, excluding where we conduct unannounced management system audits.