Use of online platform, provision of masks, massive testing and awareness campaigns are some of the actions targeted to our employees.
Electric energy is key for the operation of hospitals and other services even more needed during the pandemic. To prevent Covid-19 among its more than 14 thousand employees, who work directly to maintain the quality of the supply in such challenging times, Neoenergia has reinforced the care with the professionals. Among the actions, the company has reorganized its routines and workspaces, provided masks and face shields for everyone, carried out massive testing periodically, promoted live broadcasts for guidance, and used the HealthCheck online health platform in all its businesses.
“People are our main value. Due to this, since the beginning of the pandemic, we have created a strict health and safety protocol to take care of our employees and prevent infection. Therefore, we are able to maintain the safety of the professionals and the quality of our service to the population, which is essential and requires even more reliability at this time," says the Corporate Safety director and coordinator of Neoenergia's Crisis Committee, Manuel Martínez.
With the worsening of the pandemic in Brazil, care has been intensified. Professionals who work in all of the group's businesses, from generation to energy distributors – Coelba (BA), Celpe (PE), Cosern (RN), Elektro (SP and MS) and Neoenergia Distribuição Brasília are being tested for covid-19. The massive testing is also carried out for the employees who work at the construction sites of the two important wind power complexes under construction - Chafariz (PB) and Oitis (PI and BA) - and the transmission projects in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraíba, Ceará, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, and Bahia. The project development progress is necessary to strengthen the Brazilian electric system and meet the demand for electric energy.
Employees are constantly receiving guidance on how to prevent Covid-19. Live broadcasts with company physicians and external professionals, including infectologists and other health areas, were started in April to reinforce the actions that were already being carried out by the internal communication channels. All work environments feature informative materials, and other guiding content is periodically delivered through the internal digital channels, expanding the knowledge about the precautions to avoid being infected by the disease.
The company has provided its professionals with medical tele-guidance to answer questions regarding Covid-19, and the professionals can make a weekly record of their "health check-in" on the HealthCheck platform, implemented at Neoenergia in 2020 and already integrated with its new distributor, Neoenergia Distribuição Brasília (formerly CEB-D). The platform is an ally to the employees' well-being. We will contact all employees who may report any symptoms of Covid-19 or who are anxious about the pandemic. Thus, they can ask questions and receive customized and humanized guidance," explains Rodolpho Mascarenhas e Silva Santos, Neoenergia's occupational physician.
Through the tool, which can be accessed on the computer or on the cell phone, the company is able to adopt increasingly assertive measures to prevent and fight the disease, based on its employees' answers to five questions about their physical and emotional state and how their personal care is being carried out on a daily basis. "With the strategic actions adopted by the company, our employees can feel safer to continue providing such an important service to the population," says Régia Barbosa, Neoenergia's Organizational Development and Culture Superintendent.
The use of masks and face shields is mandatory, and distancing is required. The protocol for the field teams includes sanitizing safety items, such as vehicles and cabins, before each work shift. In addition to personal protective equipment, hygiene products are made available, including alcohol gel and multipurpose substances that can be used in cars.
In the company's offices, capacity has been reduced to 40% and the remaining employees are working remotely. The facilities are frequently sanitized and go through oxy sanitization, a process of air conditioning unit cleaning. Temperature control is also carried out at entrance gates, which feature sanitizing mats, as well as signaling in elevators, tables, bathrooms, and other environments to maintain a safe distance.
This initiative is part of Iberdrola group's response to Coronavirus .