Foseco COVID-19 statement

As a global company, Vesuvius and its Foundry Division Foseco, are closely monitoring the spread of Coronavirus COVID-19 (COVID-19).

Our primary focus has been to protect the health and safety of our people, their families and that of our customers and business partners. As with many organisations, we are taking steps to ensure that the health and safety of our staff is safeguarded, whilst where possible seeking to secure the continued operation of our business and protect the interests of our customers.

Many of our operations have been actively involved in supporting their local communities in the fight against COVID 19 including:

• Provision of materials and equipment to the local community to manufacture 10 000 face masks in Brazil.
• Donation of 1500 litres of hand sanitiser to the local community and the Red Cross in Germany.
• Manufacture of special plexiglass boxes to allow health staff to treat COVID patients safely in the USA.
• Given PPE to local hospitals in India and provided food for police on duty and for migrant workers.

The foundry industry has been severely disrupted by the crisis, as in many countries, businesses closed temporarily to help reduce the spread of infection.  Our operations have also inevitably been disrupted as we deal with temporary site closures and supply chain issues, and our teams are working hard to maintain business continuity.

We have implemented home working for a significant number of our staff and introduced safe working practices in all our offices and production facilities. Our selling and technical teams continue to provide support and advice to our customers through the increased use of video conferencing and technical training webinars.

We continue to monitor the situation carefully, on a country by country basis, working closely with the relevant authorities and we stand ready to adapt our approach as some of the restrictions are lifted.