Industry News

In order to address the needs of cleaning professionals during the

COVID-19 pandemic, KimberlyClark Professional announced a new scholarship programme to assist smaller cleaning organisations to provide critical training on infectious disease prevention and control measures for their employees. The programme is in collaboration with ISSA, the worldwide cleaning association, and the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), a division of ISSA.

“Cleaning professionals are working tirelessly behind the scenes to help other essential businesses run safely,” said Susan Gambardella, President, Kimberly-Clark Professional North America. “They are heroes on the

front lines, putting their own health and safety at risk. So, while they’re looking out for others, we want to ensure that someone is looking out for them. This scholarship programme is about providing access for these essential heroes, especially those who may not have otherwise had the opportunity to get this training, to gain the knowledge they need to work safely and confidently.”

The GBAC Fundamentals Online Course is focused on prevention, response, and control measures for biohazards in the workplace with a special emphasis on infection and contamination control measures for infectious disease outbreak situations such as COVID-19.

Bidvest Group, which employs 100 000 people in South Africa, said in a statement that it had put in place a raft of measures to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on its staff. Bidvest Group Chief Executive Lindsay Ralphs said the funds would be used to support the income needs of staff who had been unable to work during the level 5 and level 4 lockdowns. Executives will also be taking a 40 percent pay cut and board members will be taking a 30 percent pay cut.

R400 million fund launched by Bidvest to support laid-off workers

JSE-listed services, trading and distribution group Bidvest announced during April that it had allocated R400 million towards employee relief initiatives through a newly formed Bidvest Group COVID-19 Employee Fund.

“Like the rest of the world, South Africa is going through an unprecedented crisis,” said Ralphs, “and even diversified groups like ours are not immune to the economic fallout. As one of the largest employers on the JSE Top 40 Index, we nevertheless recognise that our people are our most valuable asset and we are making financial arrangements that will help us shield them against the impact of the crisis.”

Employees who have been able to work during the lockdown period will receive their salaries in accordance with standard business practices.

Through Kimberly-Clark Professional’s US$500 000 donation, more than 10 000 cleaning professionals across the globe will be able to complete the GBAC Fundamentals Online Course at no cost. Smaller businesses, who may not have otherwise been able to fund this training for their employees, are being given priority placement in the programme.

In addition, the programme has the goal of 50 percent of scholarships going to females and will support a mentorship programme in partnership with the ISSA Hygieia Network, the first women’s network for the global cleaning community dedicated to the advancement of women in the cleaning industry. As part of the scholarship programme, recipients can sign up to be mentored by volunteers from Kimberly-Clark Professional.

For more information visit: www.issa.com/kcp-scholarships

The company said the categories of staff who have been unable to work during the lockdown, and who might still not be able to work after regulations eased on 1 May, would be supported through the fund. These included job grades from general workers through to supervisors and managers. These employees will each receive an ex gratia payment of R2 000 from the Group COVID-19 Employee Fund to assist them with immediate needs and to supplement any UIF TERS allowances being offered by the government.

Promote your company in The Source of Workplace Hygiene Solutions!

The COVID-19 pandemic has set in motion a partnership between two organisations to leverage their skills and resources to help stem the tide of one of the largest pandemics in recent history.

Leading international waste management company, Averda, has announced a strategic partnership with Africa’s largest disaster response NGO, Gift of the Givers, to provide much needed medical waste management services to its mobile testing stations across the country free of charge for the duration of the current lockdown period.

The efforts of both Averda and Gift of the Givers are providing crucial support to healthcare facilities that are already stretched to capacity. The willingness of these organisations to come to the aid of the country demonstrates the leadership that is required to protect vulnerable communities from the virus.

Gift of the Givers founder, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, believes that providing assistance to the government and to society’s most vulnerable, sets an example to the country’s NGOs to actively participate in the fight against this pandemic. “Our mobiletesting-station initiative will assist government in meeting the diagnostic demands of COVID-19 by providing NICD-approved lab testing at discounted rates,” he said.

The large quantity of infected medical waste generated by testing for this highly contagious virus means that efficient waste management of high-risk healthcare isolation waste and disposal is critical. On a pro bono basis, Averda will manage the disposal of contaminated waste from these mobile COVID-19 testing stations, which have been established by the Gift of the Givers in key locations across the country.

“Averda will supply waste containers to all testing stations and provide training and skills development on waste storage and disposal to staff at these testing stations – enabling the safety and protection of healthcare workers,” commented Averda CEO Malek Sukkar.

Sukkar believes that the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an unprecedented challenge for all of humanity and that meeting and overcoming this challenge involves breaking down invisible barriers between public and private, commercial and NGO, businesses and people.

“This virus threatens all of us, and so we must all act as one. Averda has the resources and the skill set to remove and manage waste safely, protecting hygiene standards, which is key to fighting the virus.”

Sanitiser was decanted into containers, which were distributed to local clinics.

In an effort to provide some relief during the novel coronavirus global pandemic, Sappi Southern Africa has made available several donations of scarce items such as hand sanitiser, face masks, nutritional porridge and paper products, to reduce pressure on the national government’s resources as well as to support the most vulnerable during these extraordinary times.

Following countrywide shortages in the supply of hand sanitiser, Sappi’s science and research centre based in Pretoria was able to refocus its efforts to produce the company’s first prototype hand sanitiser. This led to a partnership with a Johannesburg-based company to produce 16 000 litres of Sappi hand sanitiser worth about R1 million. Having been successful in these efforts, Sappi is now able to distribute the sanitiser to more than 80 community clinics and healthcare centres in the rural and peri-urban areas of KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. Sappi is also distributing sanitiser to its own employees and their families.

While there remains a shortage of required personal protective equipment (PPE) for health practitioners in the country, Sappi was able to procure 15 000 surgical masks for community clinics and healthcare centres in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga – enabling community health practitioners to perform their duties safely. In addition, Sappi has procured 19 000 cloth masks, which were needed for their own employees, as well as for their contractors who continue to deliver essential services during this time of national lockdown and who require essential PPE.

Again, seeing the need to respond rapidly to a situation, Sappi‘s Saiccor Mill in Umkomaas was able to rent spare sewing machines from a local business, installed them at its Skills Centre and deployed six apprentices to make cloth masks. Following instructions from the internet, they are now producing 28 masks per hour and are working towards the target of making a further 3 000. Post-lockdown, Sappi will be looking into providing training opportunities to local SMMEs in the area for the continued production of cloth masks.

To help overcome these challenges, Colgate is designating five of its manufacturing plants on three continents to produce the new soap. It will be specially packaged with instructions on proper

Colgate-Palmolive donates soap to WHO Handwashing Campaign

Colgate is supporting the World Health Organization’s (WHO) #SafeHands effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 by producing a new soap bar that will include instructions on proper handwashing. According to the WHO, which is offering updated COVID-19 advice to the public, proper handwashing is critical to slowing the spread of the disease, but a combination of lack of access to quality soap and a lack of knowledge of how to properly wash hands to kill the virus is a challenge, especially in many vulnerable communities around the world.

“Sappi has also realised that this situation could, in the long run, have lingering effects on the resources of many institutions and organisations, and as a result we have pledged a donation of Sappi-manufactured toilet paper and Typek office paper to the value of R2 million to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for their future distribution to deserving recipients,” commented Alex Thiel, CEO of Sappi Southern Africa.

“Sappi will be able to supplement the funding for some of these initiatives, thanks to the fact that its board of directors and regional leadership teams have volunteered a 10 percent reduction in salaries or fees for the three months ending June 2020, as well as forfeiting short-term incentive bonuses for 2020. We believe that the kind of guidance that we are experiencing from our country’s leader, President Ramaphosa, at this time, exemplifies the visible leadership that will help companies pull through this crisis together. And as an essential services provider, we will continue to do all we can to keep our country healthy and safe,” said Alex Thiel.

Sappi is a leading business in the forestry, pulp and paper industry, which supplies paper, pulp and tissue products used in the manufacture of toilet paper, tissue products, packaging material for food products, cleaning and hygiene products, pharmaceuticals (tablets), nonwovens (wipes, feminine hygiene products), nappies for babies, pallets and crates used in the agricultural sector and for medical and hospital supplies, to name but a few.

handwashing to amplify the WHO #SafeHands message.

The #SafeHands campaign is a WHO initiative to educate the public on proper handwashing techniques and provide underserved communities with access to soap to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.