To whom it may concern,
Oxiteno wishes that all its customers, suppliers, vendors, and service providers are safe and healthy. We strongly advise whoever can work remotely to do so, and for the ones who must work away from home, be it operating plants, driving trucks, working at laboratories, please do that with all the required PPE, the necessary distancing, and following the disinfecting procedures recommended by the health authorities. We ourselves have followed that approach in all the geographies where we operate.
Oxiteno has strived to maintain its business operating normally, as we are officially classified as an essential activity in the majority of the countries where we operate. We know that consumers depend on cleaners manufactured with our surfactants, farmers depend on crop protection agents formulated with our ingredients, and industrial products require our chemicals to be manufactured.
Oxiteno´s plants in Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, and USA have been operating normally since the beginning of the pandemic. We implemented stringent policies to protect our people, limiting the number of people visiting those facilities, checking carefully drivers, reducing to the bare minimal the number of employees’ work in our facilities, and establishing back-up plans. We are also working closely with our suppliers to keep a steady flow of raw materials despite all the international supply chain constraints.
Our R&D activities in USA have continued, while in Brazil they will be resumed in May, working in alternate shifts to reduce the possibility of contagion.
Moreover, Oxiteno has also worked with communities near our facilities, helping them with their most pressing needs, be it financial support for the manufacture of hospital face shields; donations of disposable masks and gloves for health professionals; donations of respirators and other equipment for field hospitals; free deliveries of ingredients for the production of cleaning and personal hygiene products.
We have also strived to buy locally from affected communities, for example purchasing reusable masks for our employees from local small businesses.
For the time being, we have only one confirmed case of COVID-19 on April 24, 2020, which refers to an employee working from home since March 16, 2020.
Our priority continues to be the health of our employees, contractors, customers, suppliers, and the communities where we operate.
We appreciate your partnership.
Sincerely yours,
Alberto Slikta
COO
OXITENO USA LLC