2.3. Employee Safety and Business Continuity
The measures taken by the Gazprom Group to prevent the spread of COVID-19 include:
- medical monitoring with body temperature screenings at the checkpoints of administrative and production facilities;
- providing employees with PPE (in particular, masks and gloves) and disinfectants;
- disinfection of all buildings and facilities (including on-site accommodation and catering units, auxiliary facilities, and offices), vehicles and equipment;
- transitioning a part of the personnel to remote work and supplying them with the necessary office equipment;
- setting up and maintaining 24/7 employee helplines (hot lines) for the employees of the Gazprom Group, as well as various interactive services (for example, mental health support during self-isolation);
- purchasing test kits and conducting regular tests for COVID-19.
As an additional measure to support its employees, the Gazprom Group arranged 24/7 medical assistance under voluntary medical insurance contracts to complement the compulsory health insurance program – the main healthcare scheme during the epidemic.
In 2020, some 800,000 PCR tests were conducted as part of PJSC Gazprom’s voluntary medical insurance programs.
The following measures concerning the employees responsible for business continuity were taken:
- raising awareness about personal protective measures;
- creating booklets and posters on COVID-19 health hazards, possible consequences, modes of transmission, symptoms, and prevention methods;
- organizing transportation of employees between home and work using corporate vehicles;
- making sufficient PPE and disinfectants available in workplaces.
Entities employing shift personnel established observation units where workers were required to spend 14 days after arrival, and prolonged each shift to three months. A pool of personnel was formed to replace sick employees, if any, as well as people who had been in contact with them.
New logistics solutions were put in place to transport personnel to the Gazprom Group’s facilities, such as creating green zones at an airport to register shift workers for their flights and providing a separate vehicle to take them to the aircraft. Plans were also developed to use local air ambulances in case any employees at the Company’s facilities need urgent hospitalization.
To keep its corporate education continuous, the Group introduced distance learning across all educational programs, which ensured the necessary training and development for the personnel, including employees at remote facilities (temporary accommodation and observation units), during the pandemic.
Trade union organizations monitored the moral and psychological climate at work and the social needs of employees during the pandemic. Gazprom Workers’ Union initiated and helped develop measures to create favourable and safe working and recreational conditions amid the COVID-19-related restrictions. A dedicated set of measures was implemented to provide additional support to shift workers, including efforts to make their stay at observation units comfortable and safe.
Post-COVID-19 rehabilitation and treatment programs have been developed at PJSC Gazprom’s health resort and rehabilitation facilities and are now available to employees and their families.
Large-scale COVID-19 response measures were taken at one of the Gazprom Group’s major facilities, Amur GPP, where the purchase of medical and personal protective equipment and disinfectants was complemented by the establishment of five observation units with a total of 344 beds.
Soon after the pandemic started, Gazprom Neft developed and implemented Antivirus, a comprehensive program to prevent the spread of COVID-19 that put in place 78 technical and organizational barriers to counter the virus. Gazprom Neft set up 122 buffer zones in its oil-producing regions for shift workers to spend 14 days in and undergo medical check-ups before starting their shifts.
Igor Gerelishin
Head of Medical Unit, Gazprom Dobycha Nadym LLC; played an active role in establishing a medical complex at the Bovanenkovskoye field. After the first COVID-19 cases were reported, he initiated a set of measures to curb the virus outbreak and combat the epidemic.
Employee Safety and Business Continuity
The HealthCheck digital system contains health data and test results of Gazprom Neft personnel and is used to generate an individual QR code for every employee to manage their access to the company’s facilities. As part of this system, a mobile app was created for employees to track their test results and report their condition. Over 25,000 employees have installed the app, which is called Gradusnik (Thermometer).
More than 610,000 tests were conducted in 2020. Gazprom Neft introduced a flexible schedule for working hours in the morning to reduce overlapping, arranged remote thermal imaging at the entrances, and established a social distance of 1.5 m between workplaces.
Gazprom Energoholding identified critical power generation facilities and key personnel. It formed a pool of reserve shift workers and made sure the generating companies are prepared for autonomous work with their operating personnel isolated at the facilities. Contacts between employees of various Gazprom Energoholding facilities, departments and shifts were minimized, and all public events were cancelled. The number of people attending permanent workplaces was reduced to the headcount necessary to maintain business continuity.
Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat ensured uninterrupted operation of continuous-cycle production facilities and interaction between the divisions working at them. All employees were sent to work remotely, except for those who were engaged in continuous production.