Ansa McAL forms crisis team for region

THE ANSA McAL Group has formed a crisis management team and has developed an emergency response, disaster recovery and business continuity plan within the region in response to covid19, its CEO, Anthony Sabga III, said Thursday.

Describing the country as facing an extraordinary time, Sabga, said the preservation of life remains the group's number one priority as a matter of principle and with Sabga's "personal commitment to the health, safety and security of our 6,000 employees, as well as our associates, consumers, customers and communities."

"The Ansa McAL Group has been in reset and emergency mode since the latter part of February," he said.

This is not a time to panic, he said, but certainly a time, as a family, to be proactive, take the necessary precautions and play a part in protecting each other.

The group's health, safety, security and environment (HSSE) team first issued a group-wide coronavirus protocol for the Ansa McAL Group on March 2.

"Since the outbreak of the virus, we have ramped up deep-cleaning and have set-up health monitoring mechanisms throughout the group," Sabga noted, adding that the company has issued a travel ban on Sunday for incoming and outgoing business travel until further notice.

The group also implemented isolation protol for employees returning from abroad; activated remote working with special consideration for employees over the age of 60 and those who have pre-existing medical conditions; established work-from-home protocols and management.

The company is also looking at supporting child care needs. "We have asked our executives to exercise discretion by allowing colleagues who have childcare needs to work from home given the closure of schools." he said, and Ansa has also triggered a procedure for any employee displaying symptoms at work through its medical service provider.

The group, Sabga continued, has created and distributed posters on hygiene, social distancing, protocols for employees on the subject of school closure; developed business continuity plans to ensure continued operations in all sectors of its business; granted approvals for early salary payments; committed to individualised and customised repayments for its customers of Standard Distributors Ltd, that require individualised and customised repayments.

"Given the fluidity of the situation, cascading plans and actions continue to be developed and implemented by our management and leadership teams across our companies, in TT, Guyana, Barbados, Grenada, St Kitts, Jamaica and the US."

Sabga said the Ansa McAL Group has committed itself to lending further support through the regional distribution side of the business.