Fighting COVID-19 in Germany: Chemical industry initiatives

  • Winner of 2021 Responsible Care Award: “Protect yourself and others 2020 – Impfluenzertour – BASF Corona vaccination centre, Ludwigshafen”. BASF provided its employees with professional information about the coronavirus and how to prevent it, together with individual advice on how to face stress and changed lifestyles, through a web portal and a corona hotline. A flu-vaccination campaign was also organised in the factory premises with a specially equipped vaccination bus, which administered 10.000 vaccinations in 2020.
  • Winner of 2020 Responsible Care Award: “VCI Platform: Emergency Supply Disinfectants” a virtual marketplace platform to establish new supply chains in order to quickly supply disinfectants to medical and social facilities in Germany.
  • Winner of 2020 Responsible Care Awards: Covestro’s “We are 1: especially in times of the pandemic” which used a broad range of health and safety measures, not only for employees but also for their families, neighbouring communities and partner companies.
  • Winner of 2020 Responsible Care Awards: Bayer’s “Against COVID-19 Stronger Together” which included an impressive global response to fight against COVID-19 using a five-pillar strategy; awareness, protection, mitigation, treatment and research.
  • Epple Druckfarben offered support to its customers with an innovative product line including nanosivler active ingredient complex.
  • Multiple organisations took extra measures to ensure the safety of their employees: Merck initiated to deploy a testing programme for its employees to provide further protection with regard to the early detection and containment of potential new infections. Evonik’s Covid-19 crisis management addresses 2 primary objectives: 1) to preserve the health and working capacity of the employees and 2) to preserve the way working is organised. SONAX produced hand disinfectants to cover the demand of their employees and their private needs for free and pharmacies and hospitals. The EMEA Safe Work Guidelines provides general recommendations for use in all BASF Coatings facilities in addition to BASF EMEA Minimum Requirements for COVID-19 pandemic management.
  • Supplied components for corona tests: Intermediate products are used in both tests that detect SARS-CoV-2 and the tests used to detect antibodies (AlzChem, Roche Diagnostics)
  • Printed medical equipment (BASF, Evonik, Mitsubishi Chemical)
  • Produced additional hand sanitisers (Albermale, Allnex, BASF, Berlin Chemie, Brenntag, Clariant, Dow, DuPont Walsrode-Bomlitz)
  • Partnered up to donate Ultra-High Purity Glycerin for the production of disinfectants for four months to supply needs in Germany (Dow, Evonik, Olin & Shell). Olin also donated this product to universities in Milan.
  • Made propanol available to large pharmacies for the creation of disinfectants, as well as to the packaging printing industry to meet the increased demand in  packaging for pharmaceutical products and food (Oxea)
  • Donated funds or critical supplies (e.g. protective masks, disinfectants, hygiene products) to authorities, hospitals, pharmacies, humanitarian organisations, schools and others (Albermale, Allnex, Altana, BASF, Bayer, Bayer, Beiersdorf, Berlin Chemie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Covestro, DELO, Dow, DuPont, DuPont Walsrode-Bomlitz, ExxonMobil, Henkel, Lanxess, LyondellBasell, Marabu, Merck, Mitsubishi Chemical, Momentive, Olin, Sanofi, Solvay, tesa, Vinnolit, Wacker Chemie)
  • Provided local schools with licenses for the interactive online learning platform 123chemie.de (Lanxess)
  • Set up a “Helping Hands” fund to support organisations that distribute food and other necessities to those in need and to help people who ran into financial problems due the Corona pandemic (BASF) or donated funds to the Global FoodBanking Network to combat hunger during the pandemic (LyondellBasell)
  • Adapted production lines to create hoses for respirators (Evonik, MIPA)
  • Built new plants/supply chains to produce sanitisers (DuPont, INEOS, Shell, DuPont)
  • Gave away fuel cards to health workers (BP)
  • Established an online platform for the emergency supply of hospitals, doctors and nursing homes with disinfectants (German chemical industry association VCI)

This list of examples is not exhaustive and continues to grow. For more information on what the chemical industry is doing at a local level, visit: https://www.vci.de/corona

Albermale, Allnex, Altana, AlzChem, BASF, BASF, BASF, BASF, BASF, Bayer, Bayer, Beiersdorf, Berlin Chemie, Boehringer Ingelheim, BP, Brenntag, Clariant, Covestro, DELO, Dow, DuPont, DuPont Walsrode-Bomlitz, Epple Druckfarben, Evonik, Evonik, Evonik, ExxonMobil, Henkel, INEOS, Lanxess, Lanxess, LyondellBasell, Marabu, Merck, MIPA, Mitsubishi Chemical, Momentive, Olin, Oxea, Sanofi, Shell, tesa, Vinnolit, Wacker Chemie, Dow/Evonik/Shell & Olin

For an up-to-date collection of tweets of German chemical and pharmaceutical companies regarding their measures in support of the crisis, visit: https://twitter.com/i/events/1242394019713482753

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