Grecian Magnesite announces measures in response to COVID-19

Athens, Greece -- March 13, 2020 -- Grecian Magnesite S.A. (“GM”), has announced today the corporate policies and measures in response to COVID-19 pandemic.

We are all experiencing the state of emergency created by the spread of COVID-19 worldwide. Grecian Magnesite’s top priority is the health and safety of employees, customers, partners, and communities. Our company has adopted a number of policies & measures to ensure we manage to safely get through this situation while safeguarding the continuity of our business:

• Activating our crisis management team for information sharing, corporate decision making and revising arrangements in accordance with changing circumstances. The team is also responsible for monitoring developments & guidelines (from official / national ministries and international agencies) relating to the pandemic.
• Providing regular updates to employees about the situation and any changes to organizational policies or procedures as well as information and links to relevant medical and government services should they require further support.
• Providing health & safety measures and guidelines on the importance of good personal hygiene to the employees through internal communications, training & posters. Employees are properly informed to always practice good hygiene and other measures to protect themselves and others against infection. Employees are being adequately furnished with the necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - single use - gloves, goggles, medical masks, liquid soap etc, and other hygiene products (alcohol-based hand rubs, disinfectants etc) to keep them safe while performing their jobs.
• Implementing ad hoc inspections and controls by the health & safety dept. and the in-house doctor in all departments to ensure that measures are respected.
• Providing clear advice, information and specific steps to employees (according to the directives of the Hellenic ministry of Health) on how to deal with cases where a) an employee/guest become unwell or think they may have the symptoms of coronavirus, b) a coronavirus case arises with an employee/guest, as well as when employees should not attend work and the recommended isolation/quarantine periods.
• Eliminating international work travel and minimizing national work travel, with the approval of the crisis management team, in accordance to government guidelines, for all employees of the company.
• Encouraging employees to use video conferencing, phones, or other means of communication rather than participating in face-to-face meetings.
• Ensuring employees can effectively work from home or from a remote location by providing them with the appropriate tools, technology, capacity, and security measures.
• Determining the priorities and the minimum staffing requirements and identifying key employees, ensuring other staff members have received appropriate training to comprehensively cover their absence.
• Circulating strict health and safety guidelines to all supply chain stakeholders, including forwarders, haulers, shipping agents, terminals etc.
• Checking with critical suppliers and major outside service providers to make sure that their contingency plan is adequate and can be activated at any time.

As this is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation and new measures and restrictions are being announced daily, we will continue to monitor the coronavirus threat and adjust our organization’s actions as circumstances warrant.