Welcome to this special edition of Connect, which is dedicated to everyone across our company who has worked tirelessly to safeguard the health and safety of our people, their families and our communities in the face of a global pandemic.
The title for this issue, “In This Together”, describes the incredible way our company has come together to respond to COVID-19, to find creative solutions to challenges, and to look after each other.
COVID-19 is like nothing we have seen in our lifetime. This unprecedented global event has created challenges we never could have anticipated, and has required people across Teck to move quickly to implement protocols and preventative measures to help stop the spread of the virus. These protocols and measures have been developed based on sound medical science and guidance from public health authorities, under the leadership of Teck’s Medical Director, Dr. Tom Lawley. In “Your Questions Answered”, Dr. Lawley talks about our response to COVID-19 and answers some of the questions he receives most often from employees.
Our people have been at the centre of our response, and protecting their health and safety has been our top priority. “Resources to Help Limit the Spread” outlines not only the steps we have taken to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 at our sites and offices, but also the range of resources and new and expanded services available to our employees and their families to ensure they have access to physical and mental health support when they need it.
Support for our people naturally extends to support for the communities in which we operate, and we have seen tremendous examples of Teck employees finding ways to provide aid and supplies to those in need and those on the front line of the pandemic. In “Donations Big and Small”, we highlight just a few of these good works as well as Teck’s $20 million fund created to support COVID-19 response and future recovery efforts across the jurisdictions where we operate.
The theme of our people and the commitment they bring to Teck continues in “The People Behind Our Response”, in which we learn about the work of Sparwood's Dallas Cain as well as the SkunkWorks project team and the innovative solutions they came up with to implement preventative measures at sites. In “RACE21™: Adapting to Deliver Value”, we meet a group of individuals who found a way to use online collaboration tools to remotely deploy the new plant optimization program at Greenhills, which today is delivering significant value to the operation and to Teck. And in “Stopping the Spread. It Starts With Me.”, we hear from employees across Teck who have applied the principles of Courageous Safety Leadership and added their voice to our efforts to stop the spread of the virus.
These stories demonstrate just how far up the learning curve we are in terms of dealing with the virus itself. But now we also have to deal with the economic impact of the global lockdown. With the sharp decline in commodity prices for steelmaking coal, zinc and, to a lesser extent, copper, we must now navigate this next phase of economic difficulty by remaining focused on controlling costs and advancing our priority projects.
As we continue to deal with the effects of COVID-19 in our professional and personal lives, I would like to thank everyone for their commitment to our communities, to our company and to each other during this unprecedented time. Together, we will get through these challenges and emerge strong for the future.
Don Lindsay
President and CEO
