Agilent Customer Statement on the COVID-19 Coronavirus
Updated as of March 31, 2020
At Agilent, supporting our customers is a key priority, and our global teams are hard at work to avoid disruptions from the COVID-19 virus while at the same time acting responsibly to do what we can to prevent further spread. We continue to closely monitor and assess the evolving situation and will be diligent about communicating with affected customers regarding shipment timing or other issues resulting from this situation.
Our approach to COVID-19
Agilent has an established Enterprise Risk Management Program that incorporates Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) for all our critical activities, risk assessments, and crisis-management protocols. We activated this structure since the initial outbreak in China, with teams meeting at the country, function and enterprise levels. Our executive staff are meeting regularly to monitor activities.
Our employees
Agilent is committed to providing a safe environment for our employees, their families and the communities in which we operate. We have asked our 16,000 employees to work at home where possible to reduce transmission risks and to keep them safe. We want our employees to work from home safely and comfortably, and they are authorized to purchase additional equipment if needed.
Agilent has restricted all international travel by air and rail to business-critical purposes only, with prior executive approval. This is to reduce transmission risks and protect our workforce from a dynamic environment of government-imposed restrictions and quarantine. When employees do need to travel, extensive support networks are in place.
Our Human Resources and Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) teams have detailed processes in place to support our employees, including loosening of sickness and time off policies for those who need to self-isolate, fall ill, or need to make other work-life adjustments for childcare and elder care.
Our sites
Some Agilent employees might be unable to perform work from their homes. All our sites remain open, and we have taken additional precautions to protect our workforce. This includes increased cleaning and disinfection, screening and restricted access for visitors, and the availability of personal protective equipment. Internal and external events have been rescheduled virtually, postponed or canceled.
We have comprehensive plans to temporarily close part or all of a site to perform deep cleaning in the event an employee is considered a risk, shows symptoms or tests positive for COVID-19.
At our manufacturing sites, we have introduced split shifts where possible to minimize transmission risks.
Our products and services
Agilent has a diversified manufacturing strategy with more than 20 locations globally. All our manufacturing sites are operating at normal capacity. Our teams are hard at work to minimize the risk of potential disruption by identifying diversified second- and third-tier direct material suppliers and securing additional logistics uplift.
All Agilent manufacturing sites have established BCPs that cover the physical infrastructure of the site, supply-chain disruptions and logistics/distribution. Our parts and components come from a complex and diversified supply chain, and we regularly meet with our strategic suppliers to assess the robustness of their model and their own BCPs. We have proactively initiated these plans to help guarantee surety of supply.
We do not believe our products or packaging pose any transmission risk of COVID-19. Currently, there is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 in this manner; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and other authorities have confirmed there is very short survivability of the COVID-19 virus on hard surfaces. Over the days or weeks of shipping at ambient temperatures, the risk of spreading the virus is very low.
Our customers' sites
Some of our employees must visit customer sites for installations, service and repairs. Where possible, we are resolving customer issues remotely using virtual tools and technologies to minimize visits for our employees and our customers. Where a site visit is required, we have obtained additional personal protective equipment to equip our employees, and we require them to follow any additional protocols our customers have implemented.
Agilent's Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Program
The ERM program provides a framework for identifying material risks. The program supports the businesses and functions in the documentation of the risk, how the risks are managed and the update/creation of business continuity plans (BCPs) where appropriate. Oversight is provided by the Executive Risk Committee, which comprises CEO staff.
The ERM program has identified material risks to include supply-chain disruption, loss of strategic suppliers, logistics disruptions and site closures. BCPs exist to mitigate and manage these risks and we regularly assess and update them. We’ve successfully activated these BCPs — proactively in many cases — for surety of supply purposes and have been successful in ensuring we can continue to support our customers during the evolving situation with COVID-19.