Dubai | 19.03.2020

RSA-TALKE’S RESPONSE - CORONAVIRUS INFECTION (SARS-COV-2 OR COVID-19)

Cases of coronavirus infection (SARS-CoV-2 or Covid-19) have now been confirmed in all countries in the Middle East. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an international health emergency on account of the global spread of the disease. This is an extraordinary situation rarely seen before, where everyone is required to help contain the spread of this disease.

As Safety in all Situations is our dominant core value, we too are supporting these efforts with numerous measures – naturally, the health of our employees and business partners is our top priority in this situation. At the same time, we are aware of our responsibility for the functioning of our customers’ supply chain. As part of this, we have taken preventive organisational and behaviour-based measures designed to help prevent the virus from spreading further, both internally and externally.

We have currently implemented the following measures:

  • Provision of coronavirus-related information to all employees, including drivers and service partners, based on recommendations issued by official health centres and WHO
  • Provision of advice and equipment for hygiene measures, e.g. checks of visitors, drivers and entrance gates to our sites which includes a self-declaration form, temperature check and wearing masks on site
  • Avoidance of larger avoidable meetings and gatherings, switching to conference calls and video conferences where possible
  • Avoiding inter-site personnel movements where practical
  • Implementing working from home practice as much as possible depending on the function
  • Instructions for our managers on dealing with suspected cases
  • Compliance with customer-specific prevention measures, if realistic and feasible, e.g. answering questions
  • Appropriate equipment with additional PPE depending on risk assessments
  • No international travel

We have appointed a core team to manage and monitor our preventive measures. This team will monitor developments on a daily basis, regularly re-assess potential impacts and, if necessary, adjust our preventive measures in line with the current situation. In preparation for a pandemic spread of a virus, we have defined the necessary contingency measures, processes, areas of competence and specific responsibilities.

We are working to the best of our ability to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, whilst working to the best of our ability to cushion any potential impact on your logistics processes. As part of the chemical industry’s extensive global supply chain, however, it is not entirely in our hands.

We stay optimistic that business and trade activities for all our business partners and their partners will bounce back stronger! If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

RSA-TALKE Team

We encourage you to visit WHO’s Q&A on coronaviruses (Covid-19) www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses, and the CDC’s FAQ www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html for more information.