JSW steel extends work from home option to 50% of its Ballari plant workforce
JSW Steel is trying to maintain capacity utilization at its main steel plant at Ballari in Karnataka even as it has extended Work From Home option to 50% of its workforce amid the growing number of COVID-19 cases.
It has set up a fever centre within the steel plant premises to check and detect early symptoms of influenza like illness or severe acute respiratory infection, besides converting its two hospitals for COVID treatment.
According to an ET report, around 280 JSW employees have been affected so far, out of which half or 140 employees have been treated and discharged. A total of 2,800 people across JSW townships have been quarantined till 28 June 2020.
The first COVID positive case was reported on June 4 after a JSW engineer came in contact with 500 employees, out of which 106 were found infected. Following this, 11,000 employees of the 20,000 strong workforces were asked to Work From Home (WFH). Ballari so far has 725 confirmed COVID cases till Sunday evening.
To avoid further spread of infection among employees, JSW Steel Vijayanagar Works has responded by taking a string of measures to ensure adequate monitoring & support to its employees and community members.
“We have extended Work From Home option to over 50% of our workforce with mandatory use of digital tools like Zoom/MS Teams, for meetings & interactions to avoid physical proximity,” an official JSW spokesperson said.
The company has converted its Jindal Sanjeevani Multi-Specialty Hospital into full-fledged COVID care hospital and offered to convert its OP Jindal Vocational Training Centre into a COVID centre. Currently, the training centre is an isolation centre for suspected COVID cases.
It has started treating asymptomatic or moderate cases of positive Coronavirus patients of Ballari & adjoining villages. The Community Health Monitoring Project Team of JSW Foundation has conducted door to door basic COVID-19 screening to record COVID-related symptoms of 22,000 people in 5,100 households across seven surrounding villages. The screening is now being undertaken across the four townships.
The JSW Steel Ballari factory accounts for about 15-20 percent of India’s overall steel production and contributes over Rs. 7,000 crores annually to the State exchequer.
