Due to mandatory lockdowns enacted to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply systems around the world have been severely disrupted. A strong and customized water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) action plan is essential as supply chain workplaces reopen to preserve worker health and enable operations, assuring financial stability and long-term business continuity.
What makes a customized supply chain reaction so important?
Working in interdisciplinary teams on high-touch surfaces in environments ranging from cramped to expansive, workers operating in the field and manufacturing settings of global supply chains are more likely to contract an infection.
Physical distance in the workplace or community and handwashing requirements are difficult for people to follow since they are primarily located in nations with weak WASH infrastructure. In the absence of a vaccine, these steps constitute the first and only line of defense against coronavirus transmission.
To reduce further health and financial risk, multinational corporations must take proactive measures across their supply chains, both those owned and run by them as well as those with tiers of suppliers and the local communities where their workforces reside.
Whom and what is the guidance intended for?
The advice, which is geared for a business audience, shows how workforce health and business resilience are linked, which is especially important in light of COVID-19. In it, we offer a course of action for businesses with extensive global supply networks to create and put into practice a return to work plan pertinent to their supply chain. This includes creating resources to raise workers’ knowledge of hygiene.
How can you help?
In the return to work phase, take into account how the pandemic may affect your personnel and the operational foundation of your company, and strengthen WASH mechanisms to further reduce risk.
We are uniquely positioned to our four decades of experience in the global WASH sector and current role as a partner of global governments in their fight against COVID-19, we are uniquely positioned to assist the private sector in developing long-term resilience through the implementation of business-critical and people-critical hygiene plans.