Viva Energy supplies around a quarter of Australia’s fuel, and up to fifty percent of all the fuel in Victoria comes from its Geelong Refinery. The company also supplies lubricants, bitumen and solvents that keep many Australian industries running. But how does an organisation with national operations, a major manufacturing facility and over 1300 employees successfully operate through a health crisis while ensuring the health and safety of its people, customers, suppliers and communities?
As the COVID-19 virus was spreading globally and at an alarming rate, Viva Energy started planning a safe path through that would allow it to continue its operations and deliver the essential products and services that keep Australia moving.
Early action
Viva Energy’s Occupational Health Advisors, Mark Hazelton, Jodie Bourke and Joanne Millar, were intrinsically involved from the start. Their role is to provide health information and implement initiatives across the business that might improve the physical and mental health of all Viva Energy’s people.
“We were watching what was happening around the world,” explains Joanne. “Even before the pandemic was declared, we were preparing, educating and monitoring the situation for our staff.”
Immediate steps were to install hand sanitisers in appropriate locations and monitor the health of several employees who were returning from overseas prior to the introduction of mandatory self-isolation. But as the crisis worsened, the task became more daunting.
Problem solving
Joanne says that simply sourcing equipment was initially difficult. “Thermometers sold out very quickly. Personal Protective Equipment and hand sanitiser were hard to find. But different workgroups came together to source information and equipment, and meet that common goal. That enabled us to develop a register of what was available and send it out to all of our sites, business wide.”
在Vi雷电竞va Energy的吉隆炼油厂，消毒剂的采购问题以一种真正独特的方式得到了解决。炼油厂现场实验室的团队开始生产异丙醇溶液，然后用于一系列消毒目的，如在轮班之间清洁共用区域。
当大流行最终被宣布时，炼油厂组建了COVID-19战略反应小组。在最初的六到八周里，团队每天开会，制定维护炼油厂员工健康和安全的策略。
The refinery’s Operations Manager, Glenn Lyons, was a source of valuable information. “He’s in regular contact with other refineries around the world,” explains Joanne. “We shared ideas on how to keep our employees safe while maintaining our operations.”
各项举措迅速出台，遍及整个企业：从厨房撤走共用的餐具和调味品，减少椅子数量，以确保有足够的距离；厨房完全关闭；鼓励任何可以在家工作的人这样做；Skype取代了面对面会议。
Education and communication
“We knew that physical distancing was one of the most effective measures to prevent the virus spreading,” explains Joanne. “So through posters, Yammer and electronic platforms, we began explaining the importance of physical distancing and the effectiveness of hand hygiene across the workforce.
“我们开发了一个业务范围的COVID-19网页，为最新的更新和政策变化提供了一个中央访问点。面对如此多变的形势，我们必须及时提供最新情况，并通过解释和加强我们的政策变化来吸引员工。”
沟通对于减少工作组内的焦虑也很重要。员工需要知道正在采取什么措施来确保他们的安全，因此团队进行了许多一对一的谈话，以提供支持和保证，并定期与整个公司进行沟通。
“All the misinformation in the media and on social media heightened people’s anxieties, concerns and fears,” says Jodie. “We had to deal with that almost daily. We’ve seen the potential for pandemics in the past but nothing has been on this scale, affecting the whole world at the same time.”
管理恐惧
Jodie解释了Viva Energy的健康团队如何关注病毒在欧洲的最初传播。“我记得3月初看了几场网络研讨会，当时意大利高达10%的感染者是医护人员，其中25雷电竞%死亡。这相当可怕。”
Joanne和Jodie有重症监护的背景，在急救医学领域工作了很多年，但这是一次全新的经历。乔安妮说：“我们不知道我们在处理什么。“我们看着它蔓延得那么严重，那么容易。”
马克的家庭成员从事医疗保健工作，包括他的妻子从事老年护理工作。他也有更多的个人原因值得关注。“我是1型糖尿病患者，有相当多的数据显示COVID-19对糖尿病患者的影响更大。这当然是一种担忧。”
Keeping its operations running
From its refinery in Geelong to its national network of terminals, and at airports across Australia, Viva Energy relies on the skills of its employees and contractors to maintain operations. Those people had to be protected.
People who relied on public transport to get to and from work were coached specifically about the importance of hand hygiene and physical distancing while travelling. Viva Energy also offered subsidised car parking across the business to encourage people to drive to work instead of using public transport.
除了卫生团队已在整个企业实施的举措外，还将工作组分开，以减少接触病毒的风险，会议室关闭，现场访客访问仅限于重要人员。
The most important initiative introduced by the team was thermal scanning. It was labour intensive, particularly at the Geelong Refinery where over 700 people, including many contractors, work to manufacture essential fuels, bitumen and solvents for Australian industries.
确定如何实现扫描是成功的一半。必须制定准则，以确定重返工作方案。执行测试的工作人员必须接受使用设备的培训，并教育他们如果有人返回高温读数该怎么办。然后，必须制定应急计划来管理错误的结果——例如，一名员工骑自行车或坐在有暖气的车里发热，导致读数过高。
热扫描技术在炼油厂得到了成功的试用，然后在Viva Energy的全国业务中得到推广。到目前为止，很少有经过测试的工人返回高温环境。在为数不多的病例中，所有病例都被证实是一雷电竞般病毒症状所致，而不是COVID-19。
“我们认为这是一个非常积极的结果，”乔安妮说。“这不仅仅是为了让COVID-19不参与我们的国家行动。这是为了阻止所有病毒性疾病，因为它们都以同样的方式传播，我们希望保持我们的员工健康。”
在家工作
Employees who were now working from home presented a range of new challenges.
Viva Energy recognised that not everybody had a great home office setup, so provided laptop stands and allowed people to take essential IT equipment home. They also provided financial support to fill any equipment gaps.
“它的另一个重要部分是提供人体工程学支持，”马克说。“我们给出了一些临时建议，建议在家工作时尽量保持工作效率和舒适感，比如使用带腰部支撑的椅子，并定期休息。我们试图跳出框框思考。
“We also tried to give people practical tips on how they could build incidental activity into their home work environment, in light of the fact that they will have potentially experienced a two-thirds to three-quarter reduction in the physical activity that they would normally get at work. Physical activity is great for our wellbeing, both physically and mentally.”
该小组还保持定期联系，以确保人们能很好地应对，并试图找到解决办法，因为他们意识到有些人不能。
“Maintaining contact via Skype, internal messages and phone calls with employees working from home was important” says Mark. “As time passed, we started having more conversations around mental health instead of COVID related health questions. Some people working from home had their families around them, so they had that social interaction. But we also had single people living in one-bedroom apartments, and people having to self-isolate after returning from overseas.
“卫生小组保持了非常开放的沟通，问‘你还好吗？“我们想让人们觉得他们可以表达任何关切，所以我们试图打开对话。”
Viva Energy’s Employee Assistance Program supports employees’ physical, social and mental health and wellbeing. It was (and is) also available for every employee working from home, and for managers who might be concerned about someone in their team.
A positive response
在一个史无前例的监管、孤立和艰难时期，Viva Energy员工的反应和回应让卫生团队的工作变得更加轻松。雷电竞
正如朱迪解释的：“我们真的很高兴看到大量的员工对自己和同事的健康负责。我们的措施得到了认真对待，因为我们的生活中都有易受感染、更易受感染的人，没有人愿意把这些生命置于危险之中。
“We had the support of the business to ensure that important information was delivered and received well, and I think that helped people accept responsibility for their own health.”
长期利益
Regular handwashing using the correct technique has become habitual among Viva Energy employees, which pleases the Health team. It will help limit the transmission of viral infections such as influenza across the workforce, which has been a focus. But Mark believes there will be other long-term benefits as well.
“我们看到人民attitu的变化des towards sick leave, too. Previously people would show up to work really unwell but insisting they’re fine, which only served to spread infection. Now if someone has a sniffle they’re not only expected to stay at home, they’re actually more likely to do so voluntarily.
“Another reason for that is that people now know they can work from home productively. Moving forward, people will have better tools to manage that, which will further encourage them to think, okay, I’m well enough to work but I’m symptomatic and I can’t go to work, so I’ll work from home instead.”
Jodie also points out a key learning from the experience, which was the importance of communication and engaging the workforce. “Advice from the Department of Health and Human Services was changing almost daily, which meant that we had to continually review and disseminate the information to the workforce,” she says. “Anecdotally, there is greater buy-in when people are involved in the decision-making, so that’s been really important.”
A job well done
The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic forced Viva Energy to radically and urgently reassess its health and safety policies and practices. The way this was handled, implemented and accepted on a company-wide level is an immense source of pride for the Health team.
朱迪说：“我们采取措施，通过提供一个安全的工作环境来降低冠状病毒对劳动力造成影响的风险，这意味着我们可以继续提供对全国许多人至关重要的产品和服务。”。“但我也为我们作为一个团队相互支持的方式感到骄傲。
“我们是一个小团队，但我们合作得很好。我们每天都有检查，以确保我们都能应付，尤其是在我们的工作量大幅增加的最初阶段。我们会为彼此做不同的事情，只是为了确保每件事都完成。”
Mark agrees. “We all had our highs and lows during this time, and I’m proud of how we stepped up and worked hard to support each other. I’m really thankful to Jo and Jodie for being so helpful and supportive.”
乔安妮补充道：“这就是我们团结在一起的方式。”。“我也为企业给予我们的支持感到骄傲。他们一直在寻找我们并不总是有的答案。他们接受了这一点，当我们遇到那些具有挑战性的案件时，他们真的很支持我们。我只是觉得我们大家都很好地团结在一起，不仅仅是卫生团队，还有整个组织。我不得不说，能成为Viva Energy员工队伍的一员让我感到自豪。”雷电竞
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