MISC Integrated Annual Report 2020

// Key Messages / Highlights / Strategic Review / Sustainability / Financial Review ////// MISC Berhad / Integrated Annual Report 2020 4 82 MISC Berhad / Integrated Annual Report 2020 4 83 ////// Financial Review / Sustainability / Strategic Review / Highlights / Key Messages // Section Section SPECIAL FEATURE OUR RESPONSE TO COVID-19 The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted business operations globally where no industry was spared from the implications of the economic fallout triggered by the outbreak. Companies that continued to operate throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have had to come up with novel ways of keeping their employees safe. At the onset of the pandemic, very little was known about the virus. Existing health and safety standard operating procedures (SOP) in the Pandemic Response Plan had to be adapted and updated based on learnings culled from a wide range of reputable sources, all of which continue until today. MISC began monitoring the COVID-19 situation as early as December 2019, when we implemented HSSE advisories to safeguard our employees from potential infection. At that point, the virus had only been detected in China. By early February 2020, the situation had worsened and MISC instituted the Pandemic Response Team to chart the best course forward. In March 2020, infection rates hit critical mass, and the World Health Organisation officially declared it a pandemic. Global lockdowns, border closures and movement restrictions were announced to curb the spread of the virus. While many businesses pivoted to work from home arrangements, to enable their employees to continue working in safety, this was a luxury that could not be afforded to MISC’s employees such as the seafarers working at Eaglestar and AET, offshore workers on our floating assets, shipyard workers at MHB, and MMS’ marine technical, consultancy employees, inspectors and engineers. These employees continue to be MISC’s front liners, risking themselves every single day to keep trade and commerce flowing around the world. The high risk of infection our front liners face has caused significant anxiety. With mental health a challenge for our employees, we provided them the right support to fortify their mental strength. Keeping our Seafarers Safe We considered it our outmost priority to ensure that our employees, especially the crew, remained safe to ensure flawless operations. While the initial stage proved to be challenging, Eaglestar proactively devised COVID-19 guidelines for crew change which has been successful in minimising the spread of the virus on board our vessels. Keeping our employees safe was inextricably linked to assuring our customers that they could utilise our crew and vessels to conduct their global trade arrangements securely, and expect safe and timely deliveries of their cargo. We developed a robust plan that covered various aspects of the seafaring trade, and each vessel had its own Ship Pandemic Plan. The maritime industry has been severely hit by the crew change crisis. Logistic limitations, closure of ports and borders, and high risk of COVID-19 infections are resulting in the extended stay of crew onboard the vessel. Besides the logistic challenges, the joining and repatriation of crew was challenging due to constant changes in the different SOPs issued by the respective countries. Shore leave for crew members were suspended to better manage the crew change situation. As the vessels were having minimal or almost no physical contact with the shore, the management and shore employees embarked on the following initiatives to reduce anxiety among the crew and maintain high spirits to push through the challenging times together: As the pandemic persists, the crew change crisis has become one that the maritime industry can no longer ignore. In January 2021, the MISC Group, comprising of MISC, AET and Eaglestar signed the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change. MISC along with over 300 companies and organisations who are signatories of the Declaration are coming together to resolve the crisis across the entire maritime value chain as soon as possible. Maintaining Workers Safety at our Shipyards Workers at MHB’s shipyards in Pasir Gudang are also facing their own set of unique challenges as they continue to work through various lockdown cycles. As of the end of September 2020, we had a total of 7,000 people at our premises, working on various projects. As the projects were completed and delivered, the number of workers onsite reduced in tandem, to 4,200 as at the end of December 2020. In the course of the year, any suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case within the facilities or onboard the vessel was managed in accordance to the authorities’ guidelines. We shared lessons learnt with the Johor State Health Department and Johor Port Authority, and this collaborative knowledge sharing led to the government enforcing more stringent requirements for vessels planned to be repaired and serviced to undergo a 14-day quarantine period before they berthed. The challenges of the pandemic have taught us that it is possible to overcome difficulties if we are all of “One Heart. One Mind. One Dream.” Regardless of the difficulties we encountered, the entire MISC family stands strong and unified, and continues to put our best foot forward in all that we do. Some of the mental health measures/support provided to our employees are: Online mindfulness sessions which taught our employees relaxation techniques to help them manage stress and anxiety Employee Assistance Programme, a hotline which our employees can call to speak to specialist consultants who provide them independent counselling. Advice covering health, legal matters, financial difficulties and family issues, is provided by a third-party service provider, and all communications are kept private and confidential Online workout sessions made available through various online portals i.e. YouTube and Facebook Increased communications between our shore employees and our seafarers. Eaglestar’s management, comprising of the CEO and Directors of various divisions, have been in constant engagement with the crew to advise and share on management’s efforts in managing the crew change crisis Increased the amount of interaction between crew members and their families at home by providing more video calls for the crew To keep our employees safe, we did the following at our shipyards: Segregated working areas according to each project, especially at the workshop and fabrication sites. Workshops were further partitioned with barricades to ensure a clear demarcation between projects and keep workers socially distanced from each other Opened up two gates for workers to use to enter and leave the yards in staggered timing to reduce human traffic flow. We installed thermal camera scanners at the gates to record the workers’ temperatures automatically Staggered break times and lunch hours to minimise the number of people congregating Frequently communicated with our employees to keep them updated on the latest COVID-19 news and SOPs through email, updates on the portal, SMS and briefing