CEMEX Joins the Fight Against the COVID-19 Pandemic to Help Employees, Communities and Hospitals
CEMEX will also donate sanitiser to local communities and support hospitals in procuring raw materials, and the product is already available for distribution -or will be shortly- across European countries in which CEMEX operates. The first delivery of the sanitiser arrived in the UK last week.
Personal hygiene is one of the major weapons in the current Coronavirus pandemic, but commercial hand sanitisers are becoming increasingly scarce, so CEMEX responded quickly. “We decided to investigate whether we have the resources and know-how to produce sanitisers in-house, and fortunately we do,” says Dietmar Vötsch CEMEX Europe Director Mortars & Admixtures.
The CEMEX Admixtures plant in Germany will produce sufficient quantities to cover the needs of all the approx. 10,000 CEMEX employees in Europe for the first month. Shortly after, the construction chemicals specialists will produce a stock for six months. Moreover, CEMEX personnel are supporting pharmacies and hospitals in purchasing raw materials. As all CEMEX sites in Europe will soon be equipped with sanitiser, the company plans to play an increasingly important role in supporting local communities by providing much needed disinfectants. Sanitisers will also be made available to customers on a cost base only.
Marcelo Catala, CEMEX Europe VP of Urbanization Solutions at CEMEX, emphasizes: “We have extraordinary talent, creativity and expertise in our Teams; scale to leverage… and above all the determination to put our teamwork and solutions at the service of our Colleagues and the Communities in which we operate. New products in our offer reflect our engagement to local environmental dynamics and urbanization needs”.
CEMEX Admixtures plants usually produce construction chemicals such as air-entraining agents, water reducers, concrete retarders, accelerators and superplasticizers. Therefore, the production facility in question and its specialist staff are well positioned to ensure safety and quality.
The formulations are recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for relatively simple, local production. ISOCLEAN WHO 1 is an alcoholic solution containing 70 to 80% ethanol. The reagents are ethanol 96%, hydrogen peroxide 3%, glycerol 98%, and sterile distilled or boiled cold water. The second formulation, ISOCLEAN WHO 2, is based on 70 to 80% propan-2-ol. In this instance, the alcohol component is isopropyl alcohol 99.8% instead of ethanol. In both cases, the potent disinfectant mixture is supplied in 5-litre containers together with a user manual and safety instructions. Hand sanitisers in the form of gel or liquid are particularly effective and work quickly.
CEMEX Europe’s cross-divisional Rapid Response Team is working in close coordination with the company’s headquarters in Mexico as well as colleagues on several continents. “We share our findings so that they can be leveraged by our international colleagues as quickly as possible,” explains Marcelo Catala. “We hope that our efforts will help keep our employees and our external stakeholders safe.”
CEMEX R&D, Innovation and Business Development projects are part of the global R&D collaboration network, headed by CEMEX Research Centers, based in Switzerland.
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For more information about CEMEX, please contact Sarah Murphy: sarah.murphy@cemex.com or call 07557 319972