Metinvest Group immediately introduced a set of measures to protect employees of the company’s enterprises after the WHO announced a coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. “Zaporizhstal” allocated UAH 26.2 million for the implementation of a comprehensive program of quarantine measures in 2020. The anti-epidemic measures at the Steel Works have been extended in 2021.
“One of the key tasks of 2020 for us was to protect the large team of the enterprise from the risk of the spread of coronavirus. The Steel Works has taken unprecedented measures, realizing that protecting our employees is protecting their families, protecting the contractors who work with us. We managed to keep production, our team, salaries at the pre-crisis level “, – said Aleksandr Mironenko, General Director of “Zaporizhstal”.
Since the introduction of quarantine in March until the end of 2020, “Zaporizhstal” purchased and provided the team with personal protective equipment: about 2.5 million masks, more than 31 thousand liters of antiseptic agents for hand disinfection, more than 400 thousand pairs of gloves. In health centers, canteens, at the main checkpoints of the enterprise, 35 recirculation units were installed, which ensure continuous air disinfection in the premises. In addition to them, automatic thermal screening systems were installed at the checkpoints – 12 terminals, in order to fix suspected carriers of the virus at the entrance to the Steel Works. More than 1200 more contact and 30 non-contact thermometers were transferred to departments to provide temperature screening in teams during the working day.
“Zaporizhstal” provides employees with everything necessary for treatment in case of COVID-19 disease and compensates for the costs of diagnostics. In 2020, the Steel Works allocated about UAH 2.2 million for these purposes alone. Moreover, the company has undertaken the costs of seasonal vaccination of employees against flu, having directed more than UAH 400 000 for this purpose. The Steel Works sent another UAH 12 million to provide corporate health insurance for “Zaporizhstal” employees.
Let us recall that from the first days of the pandemic, an operational headquarters for combating COVID-19 began its work at “Zaporizhstal”. Among the measures to reduce the risk of illness are the removal of administrative personnel to a remote work, providing the Steel Works’ employees with protective equipment, conducting multiple temperature screening, disinfection of workplaces, household facilities and corporate buses, expanding the network of corporate transport routes.
Let us recall that Metinvest was included in the TOP-50 best employers in Ukraine according to “Forbes” magazine. It is noted that a flexible HR strategy helped Metinvest keep the team in the crisis.
In 2021, Metinvest Group celebrates the 15th anniversary of its foundation. Metinvest is an international vertically integrated mining and metallurgical group of companies. Its structure includes mining and metallurgical enterprises in Ukraine, Europe and the USA, as well as a sales network in all key regions of the world. The company controls the entire production chain – from the extraction of ore and coal to the production of semi-finished products and finished products.