The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to the shutdown of many industries, businesses and operations.
At this stage construction is still deemed an essential service, and therefore Knauf has been able to continue its operations at all sites. All our plants are operating their regular shifts.
In compliance with the measures announced by the Government and health authorities, we have social distancing and hand hygiene procedures in place at all our plants, and staff who are able to do their work from home have been instructed to do so.
Those who still have contact with people outside their household, for instance factory workers and members of the sales team, have been instructed to limit their contact to “casual contact” only.
What does casual contact mean?
Casual contact includes the following measures:
- Meet face-to-face for less than 15 minutes
- Share enclosed spaces for less than 2 hours
- Allow 4m2 of space for every person in enclosed spaces, and place occupancy limits of people per room
- Practice social distancing and keep 1.5 m away from another person
- No hugging, kissing or shaking of hands.
Why do we do this?
Social distancing is an effective strategy to curb the spread of COVID-19. The graph on the left indicates that the spread of the virus in Australia can be effectively managed if everybody complies.
By “keeping it casual” you will help to protect yourself from contracting the disease if you happened to come into contact with an infected person. Similarly, you would be able to help protect the people around you from catching the virus and spreading it further if you had to become infected.
When faced with an unknown infectious disease for which there is no cure or vaccine, social distancing is an effective strategy to stop the virus from spreading further.
But it’s not natural!
Yes, humans are social beings. It is not natural for us to maintain a distance between each other and to not meet and socialise in the way we are used to. But if we can get everybody in the country to keep it casual, it will allow us to “flatten the curve” and prevent the healthcare system from becoming overburdened. And sooner we can do this, the sooner we can return to normal.
Thank you for keeping it casual!
