Bureau Veritas COVID-19 Updates

NEW - April 1, 2020 - At Bureau Veritas, we are carefully following the guidelines of relevant authorities in every country in which we operate, as well as the recommendations of the World Health Organization. We are also actively monitoring the health crisis and its consequences with the utmost attention and have implemented crisis management committees at all levels of the Group.

For several weeks now, the COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting the lives of our employees around the world, their families, clients, partners, suppliers, and society at large. The entire Bureau Veritas network – across all our businesses, countries and subsidiaries – has been mobilized to implement the appropriate measures – at both local and global levels – to protect everyone’s health and safety and ensure business continuity.

In many sectors, our services contribute to maintaining operational activities that are critical to ensuring people’s health and safety. Bureau Veritas teams are working – both in the field and via remote technological channels – to ensure the safety of industrial facilities, hospitals, power grids and transportation infrastructure, and to conduct the testing required to uphold the quality of essential products and the operation of critical equipment.

“Safety is a top priority for Bureau Veritas, and at a time when the world is facing the COVID-19 outbreak, I would like to reiterate my support to all of our employees and clients affected by this unprecedented crisis. We are putting all necessary measures in place to maintain both safety and a high quality of our services.”

Didier Michaud-Daniel, CEO
 

HEALTH AND SAFETY: OUR TOP PRIORITY

#staysafe

The health and safety of our employees, their families and our clients is our number one priority, whatever the circumstances, and all the more so during the ongoing health crisis. Bureau Veritas has implemented a number of measures to ensure the continuity of our operations, while protecting the safety of our employees and clients in all affected areas. The main measures are as follows:

• Hygiene & Health:
  • Repeated reminders to use barrier precautions and practice social distancing at all times
  • Recommendations on what to do in case of symptoms
  • Strict compliance with the policies in force in each country at the initiative of local authorities
  • Quarantine measures for employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 or have demonstrated symptoms or live with someone who has tested positive
• Travel:
  • Domestic travel is limited to providing essential client services, and to supervising the safety of our employees
  • All business-related international travel has been suspended
• Teleworking:
  • Implementation of teleworking
  • Dissemination of information on best practices for working from home
  • Reinforced remote management of teams, and active remote collaboration using the Group’s digital work tools
• Business premises:
  • Enhanced hygiene and social distancing measures, of office and laboratory spaces for optimal safety
  • Disinfection of business premises
  • Displays advising preventative measures, including barrier precautions
  • Access to our premises is severely restricted or prohibited to visitors
  • Provision of personal protective equipment whenever necessary

In support of these measures, and to continue to meet our clients’ needs, Bureau Veritas has reinforced its IT infrastructure and developed business continuity plans for all of its operations. Furthermore, emergency procedures, have been reviewed; the head of each site is empowered to make emergency decisions.

Learn more: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

BUSINESS CONTINUITY

Throughout the world, and across the many sectors in which we operate, Bureau Veritas is making every effort to ensure the continuity of its business to the highest standards of excellence, and in full compliance with local regulations, in the service of our clients, and in the interest of their clients, and society at large.

Bureau Veritas has launched specialized digital tools for a variety of sectors to support remote operations. Teleworking, remote inspections and certification audits are enabling the continuity of our business activities, minimizing the risk of operational disruption for our clients.

All of these services are based on two of Bureau Veritas’ core commitments, which are critical to secure the trust of our clients and stakeholders:

• protecting the health and safety of the people involved in the delivery of our services  
• meeting all technical requirements, using highly rigorous processes and procedures.

Furthermore, our employees working at our clients' premises strictly comply with their specific health and safety policies, including precautionary rules relating to COVID-19.

Access Covid-19 information provided by the TIC Council (international trade association for the testing, inspection and certification industry):
https://www.tic-council.org/covid-19-information

 

 

March 27, 2020 - At this time, all of our network laboratories remain open. As always, we are working hard to provide the best service possible to our clients. If you need immediate assistance, you can also reach out directly to your regular Bureau Veritas contact at any time.

Pour le moment, tous les laboratoires de notre réseau restent ouverts. Comme toujours, nous travaillons fort pour fournir le meilleur service possible à nos clients. Si vous avez besoin d’une assistance immédiate, vous pouvez également contacter directement à tout moment votre représentant ou représentante de Bureau Veritas.

 

March 18, 2020 - Bureau Veritas has been closely following news and all developments of the COVID-19 pandemic. Safety is an absolute at Bureau Veritas, and the priority is to keep our employees and clients safe. As a global organization, we have implemented preventative measures recommended by WHO (World Health Organization), the CDC (Center for Disease Control), and other local regulatory bodies (as appropriate for the operating country or region). We are communicating in real-time with our employees and clients as this situation evolves and have set up a dedicated crisis committee to ensure that safety in this situation remains our top priority.

To help reduce safety risks to our people and clients, Bureau Veritas has taken the following preventative measures:

• Restricted all non-essential travel to reduce spread of the virus
• We have advised our employees to follow the public health authorities' guidance regarding hygiene and social distancing
• Reinforced Bureau Veritas’ existing policy encouraging employees who exhibit flu-like symptoms to stay home and consult with a medical professional

Business Continuity 

At this point, all our North American locations are maintaining our regular operating schedule.  Preserving the confidence and trust of our customers and business partners by proactively ensuring the reliability and continuity of our services is critical to our business. We have executed a business continuity plan to minimize any disruption of our services while protecting the safety of our employees and clients. We have:

• Reinforced preventative measures onsite at our locations and we are working closely with our facility managers to ensure that employees are able to work safely
• Enhanced our IT infrastructure, and devised business continuity plans for each of our business lines
• Briefed employees on what to do in the event of business disruption and have solutions in place to allow for the seamless continuation of all our workflows

We will continue monitoring conditions in each jurisdiction we operate in and update all employees and clients as necessary. Please be safe and we thank you for your understanding and partnership during this time.

 

March 4, 2020 - Bureau Veritas has been closely following news of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.  Safety is an absolute at Bureau Veritas, and the priority is to keep our employees and clients safe. As a global organization, we are implementing preventative measures recommended by WHO (World Health Organization) and other local regulatory bodies (as appropriate for the operating country or region).  We are communicating in real-time with our employees and clients as this situation evolves.  We have set up a dedicated crisis committee to ensure that safety in this situation remains our priority.