The management of Liberia’s largest natural rubber plantation company, Firestone has confirmed that one of its workers has been killed by the Coronavirus pandemic now on the rise in Liberia.
Firestone is owned by the US-based Bridgestone Americas.
“We are saddened to announce that an employee of Firestone Liberia has died after contracting COVID-19. Our thoughts are with the employee’s family, community, and coworkers during this difficult time,” says a press release issued by Firestone on Monday, April 27, 2020.
The name of the dead employee was not disclosed, but the Firestone management has assured that “our most important priority remains ensuring the safety of our employees, their dependents, and the welfare of our operations.”
Below is the full text of the press release:
| FIRESTONE LIBERIA, INC. | Firestone Liberia Harbel, Liberia |
APRIL 2020
Contact: PATRICK HONNAH +231 88 658 1868
honnahpatrick@bfusa.com
We are saddened to announce that an employee of Firestone Liberia has died after contracting COVID-19. Our thoughts are with the employee’s family, community, and coworkers during this difficult time.
Our most important priority remains ensuring the safety of our employees, their dependents, and the welfare of our operations. The management of Firestone Liberia is closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation, in close communication with the Government of Liberia, and taking all necessary steps as developments with this crisis take place.
In response to the spread of COVID-19 around the world, Bridgestone Americas, Firestone Liberia’s parent company, activated its Enterprise Crisis Management Team (ECMT) to jointly manage activities related to the health and safety of our employees, customers and suppliers. This team is providing unified management as it relates to virus prevention, risk mitigation, business continuity and internal and external communications.
As of Friday, April 10, only employees providing essential services continue their daily work at Firestone Liberia. The following essential services have continued uninterrupted during the Stay at Home order: medical, electrical, water & sanitation and waste removal, security and community outreach services, limited administration services to facilitate payroll and technology needs and very limited manufacturing and estates functions.
All government protocols regarding health and safety for essential service workers area being closely followed. These include hand washing, temperature and overall wellness checks. In addition, all Firestone Medical Center installations are regularly disinfected and monitored per Ministry of Health guidelines. The hospital and all company medical facilities continue to be open and accessible to our employees and their dependants.
All non-essential Firestone Liberia employees remain home for the duration of the Stay at Home order in accordance with government instruction. Firestone Liberia, and appropriate Government of Liberia agencies, are closely monitoring this situation to ensure strict compliance with all government directives.
Firestone Liberia strongly urges employees, their dependants, and all Liberians to comply fully with prescribed Stay at Home measures, as directed by the Government of Liberia, in order to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
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