The COVID-19 crisis brought out the best in everyone at Knauf Insulation
and highlighted our incredible power of community. Here are just a
handful of examples from around our sites.
A total of 75 Knauf Insulation colleagues across three continents and 12 countries took part in the first Summer Solstice 24-Hour Relay Run, which started on June 20 and finished the next day. For each 30-minute slot of the 24-hour relay, there was at least one person running somewhere in the world, whether Australia, Europe or the USA. Collectively the team ran approximately 550 km in the timeline. The event was organised by UK’s Stephen Wise and Asif Dar.
Knauf Insulation provided regular donations of protective clothing and equipment to Liège University Hospital in Belgium including 3,000 shoe covers, a hundred Tyvek suits and protective glasses.
Around 500,000 m2 of our Mineral Plus IPB series Partition all Board was installed in two emergency hospitals in Turkey. The hospitals with a total capacity of a thousand beds were built within five weeks to meet the demands of COVID-19. One hospital was built on the site of the old Ataturk Airport, the other on the Asian side of the city. The hospitals were financed by the government and work contracted to Rönesans Holding.
A total of 1,822 meals were bought from local businesses and donated to frontline health care workers and first responders such as police and fire departments by our colleagues across the US over a period of four weeks. The meals were provided to 20 facilities in all five local US plant locations. In addition, 1,250 free meals were also provided to all plant colleagues.
At our Visé plant in Belgium daily meals were distributed to colleagues and their families. For home-workers returning to our Visé offices after two months of confinement, there were ‘Welcome back’ packs of guidelines, masks, disinfectant and even chocolates.
Our US corporate office ensured colleagues were safe and informed during the transition back to work. Signage and a handbook were created to keep safety front of mind, ‘A Return to Office’ task force provided support and special training was provided to everyone.
During the early months of the pandemic colleagues were issued with a bandana mask kit and a special Quarantine Family Cookbook was produced. Online events included virtual happy hours, wellness challenges, song list sharing and virtual team building events. Our US colleagues also supported their communities by sewing face masks and donating blood.
Many of our colleagues in the UK have volunteered to help the country’s National Health Service. Technical Advisor Bradley Hirst has been assembling PPE visors at home and Senior Graphic Designer Andy Evans has been delivering
prescriptions. Meanwhile, Head of Communications Jo Callow has been entertaining colleagues with morale-boosting virtual quizzes.
A passion for 3D printing inspired a colleague in the US to create an innovative mask solution for front-line workers. Shelbyville Product Analyst Jason Bates said that when he first started wearing masks they fitted ‘OK’ but put stress on his ears. Using his 3D print skills he created a flexible neck buckle design that holds a mask comfortably in place while keeping it securely closed. More than 300 buckles have now been sent to frontline workers.
During the lockdown, colleagues in Slovenia donated private laptops to children who needed to follow online lessons at home. A special internal ‘Laptop Stock Exchange’ was created to enable employees to donate their unwanted private computers to parents that needed them for their children’s school homework.
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Read our Annual Review 2020!