Covid-19 Framework and Response Measures

Covid 19: Response Measures

The safety of all is our commitment

 

At Casais Group, we are aware of the challenge that the epidemic outbreak COVID-19 brought to each one of us, and their families, so we are deeply committed to taking all necessary measures to safeguard the safety, health and well-being of our employees, customers, partners and society in general.

 

To ensure a level of security regarding the risks of contagion within our Community, we have created a Committee made up of the Group’s Executive Committee, Coordinating Directors and the support team led by the DRH (Human Resources Department) and DPS (Prevention and Safety Department) that incorporates elements from these areas and the Communication area.

 

It is the Committee target to:

  • Create a single point of contact and decision making related to the COVID-19 threat;
    Maximize the safety and well-being of the teams;
    Minimize negative impacts on business;
    Search and provide timely, relevant and clear information;
    Keep operations within the current normal range and seek to return to normal levels to 100% as soon as possible.

 

We have been following the guidelines that are obligatory and, in Portugal, we have implemented a set of measures in line with the recommendations of the competent Entities and that have been widely disseminated (individual behaviors, hygiene, control of the state of people in the workplace) , as well as additional guidelines for behaviors and good practices, both in the context of the office and on site.

 

We are aware that we will continue to have positive cases, but we have been improving the procedures every day to constitute processes to mitigate the risk of contagion, assuming that each case is a learning process.

 

We face the constraints and problems that arise as challenges, which are certainly not just ours, but of all those who work in this current context and who continue to guarantee the functioning of the economy and society.

 

Our dimension constitutes a great responsibility towards our direct and indirect community, andin that sense, we are showing the way in how we can operate in an adverse context..

 

We are in constant articulation with all Stakeholders in sharing good practices because we are all concerned with the same, from the employee to the top management. As we have always done, we continue to privilege transparency and trust in the relationships we establish with all our Interlocutors.

Contingency Plan and Prevention Measures - Offices

  • Telecommuting is mandatory whenever possible; exceptions are only allowed to ensure minimum services;
  • The use of mascara is mandatory always inside or outside the building and whenever the workstation is located in a shared, open space;
  • A temperature check is mandatory before entering the facility;
  • Hand hygiene is mandatory upon entering and exiting the facility;
  • It is mandatory to respect the minimum physical distance of 2 meters;
  • It is mandatory to respect the identified circuits, as well as the temporary indoor and outdoor signage;
  • The use of masking is mandatory in the building's circulation spaces and whenever it is not possible to guarantee physical distance;
  • The offices should have, during working hours, if the weather conditions allow it, the windows and/or doors open, so that there is natural ventilation of the spaces;
  • Before starting the work day, all employees should clean and disinfect their hands. This process should be repeated on leaving for lunch, entering work after lunch, and leaving work at the end of the day. Note that this procedure should be performed whenever necessary;
  • It is mandatory for each Employee to sanitize the work space and personal use equipment daily (computer, keyboard, mouse, telephone, among others);
  • Cleaning (in particular of doors, faucets, tables, chairs, etc.) and disinfection mechanisms in the facilities have been reinforced;
  • The times, signs, and directions for access to the eating areas must be respected, as well as the distance indicated and compliance with the instructions to request sanitation of the furniture before the next use by another colleague;
  • It is mandatory to sanitize your hands before and after using the coffee machine, coffee maker, water fountain, microwave vending machine, photocopier, or other common use equipment;
  • The pantries should not be used for socializing, and the maximum capacity indicated for each space must be respected;
  • All internal meetings are held through online communication tools, namely, using the Teams application (Microsoft);
  • All business travel remains suspended. The Casais Group, regarding the mobility of its workers, notwithstanding the respect for their freedom, will reserve the right to determine the validation of return/entry trips in the various markets;
  • In-person participation in national and international events remains suspended;
  • All training sessions are conducted, preferably, by webinar;
  • Whenever you end a face-to-face meeting, it is mandatory to identify the space as not disinfected and request the cleaning team to sanitize it;
  • Contact with drivers and couriers going to the facility should be avoided;
  • We favor contacting our customers, suppliers, and partners by phone, email, and/or through digital chat platforms;
  • The return of the collaborators to the office is only validated after the completion of the module "Contingency Plan and Prevention Measures - Offices", promoted by Academia Casais in an e-learning regime, with positive results;
  • We perform preventive and reactive screening tests, according to internal protocol and DGS determinations.
  • See our Contingency Plan Manual and Preventive Measures for the safe return of employees here.

Contingency plan and prevention measures - worksites

  • On site, we changed the management and work organization procedures so that there is a distribution of teams by circumscribed areas, teams which will always have a manager and we implemented a system of identification of the communication chain to ensure that information flows through all construction teams;
  • Contingency plan and prevention measures - worksites
  • We reinforced the cleaning and disinfection mechanisms, put hand sanitizers in the works and/or increased hand washing points equipped with soap dispensers;
  • Containers must have, during the working period, if the weather conditions permit, the windows and doors open, so that there is natural ventilation of the spaces. At night they should ventilate with the windows slightly open;
  • We have defined one or more isolation sites on the construction site to which the symptomatic worker will be sent and then evacuated;
  • We reduced face-to-face meetings, with partner entities in the work or even in the partners' facilities, to the minimum necessary;
  • Whenever possible, meetings are held remotely;
  • Personnel transport vehicles are sanitized frequently;
  • Contact with drivers and couriers who go to the work has been reduced to the minimum necessary;
  • The external documentation must rest for a period of 24 hours, compartmentalizing it in its own space, to reduce the potential for infection;
  • Workers must circulate on alternative routes in order to cross as little as possible;
  • We privilege the maintenance and exclusivity of the teams on site;
  • To mitigate the risk of contagion in the context of the work, we promote methods of organizing and distributing tasks to each employee, indicating as much as possible and preferably the same space / zone in the work;
  • We encourage greater traceability of the distribution of employees across the various spaces. Thus, in case of contagion, it is easier to identify situations of close contact and to take more assertive isolation measures;
  • On medium and long distance journeys, the available seats per vehicle have been reduced to 2/3 Whenever possible, temperature checks are carried out at the entrance to each trip. Stops at service stations and the frequency of the number of work / case trips have also been reduced;
  • Material deliveries started to be planned and monitored in compliance with the delivery and tracking protocol defined by the Central Shipyard (identifying driver, company and people with whom there was contact in the work);
  • We ask external companies that work on site (Subcontractors) to implement the model for monitoring cases under observation and comply with internal rules of prevention;
  • We encourage the Subcontractor Teams that work with us to maintain the same teams assigned to the works, in order not to allow movement of people between works, especially between works by different contractors;
  • The entry of new teams of subcontractors on site will only be possible with the compliance with the rules defined by the Group;
  • We implemented the distribution of meal shifts according to the capacity that allows social distance with a maximum occupation of 1/3 in the canteens and location;
  • We use the mandatory supply of meals by take-away or catering, in packed lunches so that travel to restaurants and canteens is avoided, with the exception of employees who bring their meals (exceptionally, they can be dispersed in the work in progress) minimally sanitized places);
  • We seek to implement the introduction of vitamin C in distributed meals;
  • We increased the degree of care and increased human and material resources to guarantee the reinforcement of hygiene in canteens and accommodation;
  • We perform preventive and reactive screening tests, according to internal protocol and DGS determinations.
  • See our Contingency Plan Manual and Preventive Measures for the safe return of employees here.

Contingency plan and prevention measures - general

Additionally, we also promote a set of good practices common to all employees of the Casais Group

  • At this moment, we have a team of Security Technicians dedicated only to Covid-19 in daily articulation with all the teams on the ground and on the job;
  • We have suspended the use of the biometric access control register; The same should be done with the employee card and/or online punching;
  • We define isolation places to which a symptomatic worker will be referred and then evacuated;
  • We have implemented a set of access rules to our buildings (already mentioned in the Contingency Plan and Prevention Measures - Offices) and to our construction sites. Thus, access to our Shipyards must respect the following rules:
    Entry is forbidden to any external element without prior authorization.
    You have to remain in the truck until attended.
    You must leave the loads in the places duly identified for this purpose;
    You must wash or disinfect your hands before and after signing documents, whether in digital or paper form. Whenever possible this should be done by an alternative means (e.g. email confirmation).
  • - The external documentation must rest for a period of 24 hours, compartmentalizing it in its own space, to reduce the potential for infection;
  • Workers must circulate on alternative routes in order to cross as little as possible;
  • Avoid handshakes and other forms of contact that may facilitate transmission;
  • We provided useful information, awareness and prevention in various channels to reach all direct and indirect employees who belong to the production chain (such as respiratory label, symptom identification, care when placing and removing masks, gloves, temperature measurement / use of thermometers);
  • We promote hand hygiene measures, as well as good practices in handling accessories on a daily basis (office equipment / supplies such as desks, chairs, pens, punches, among others, cards, keys, switches, handles / door handles) / windows, handrails, computer equipment, remote controls, telephones / mobile phones, vending machines, machines / tools for collective use, etc.), as well as respiratory etiquette and distance in physical contact, disseminated throughout the work;
  • We analyze in community (city) and check the risk status on each site;
  • We defined three levels of response depending on the internal and external risk and, for each one, we identified a set of measures;
  • See our Contingency Plan Manual and Preventive Measures for Visitors here.

Employee and family support

Our Group has as a priority the preservation of its Employees and Families, and seeks every day to guarantee processes and procedures that allow the development of the essential work for the future of its sustainability in the context of COVID-19.

Also, from the beginning, we are acting and adapting initiatives and actions with the objective of mitigating the health risk of Employees and their Family, with:

  • We find ourselves doing tests, when the NHS itself does not require it, to reassure Employees, Relatives of our Employees and Collaborators of Subcontractors; Additionally, since November, we have encouraged the application of rapid tests in groups of employees every week to quickly and proactively identify potential new cases of infection;
  • We created a totally confidential and anonymous Psychological Support Line that we disclose to all Employees;
  • We promote mindfulness sessions, sessions for managers and employees with general themes, as well as webinars and online training for employees on telecommuting, in prophylactic isolation or quarantine;
  • We encourage weekly sports activities with Functional Training and Yoga sessions in an online format;
  • We send reminders, alerts and information by SMS to all employees;
  • We have extended the tests to family members of our employees;
  • We provide adequate isolation places for employees to recover;
  • We support the delivery of food and medication and other services during the quarantine period;
  • We send recommendations and information to contribute to a good recovery for Covid-19 positive people (with information on strengthening the immune system through diet and vitamin supplements, and with recommendations and instructions for physical activity), this initiative is supported by a medical consultant hired to accompany our Security Team in this phase;
  • We are monitoring the evolution of the symptoms on a daily basis in order to be able to act with the health service in case of need.

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