DIC (China)’s Activities

The PRC’s 2020 Lunar New Year holiday began on January 23. While the holiday was originally scheduled to end on January 30, signs of the emergence of a novel coronavirus prompted the Chinese government to extend the holiday until February 9 in a bid to contain the outbreak. During this period, DIC (China) formulated guidelines for measures to be implemented, which were communicated to Group companies under its supervision together with instructions for restarting operations in a manner that guaranteed compliance. These guidelines comprised detailed directions for prohibiting overseas business trips and curtailing domestic business travel, as well as for encouraging telework where possible, meticulously staggering working hours for employees required to be on-site, conducting temperature screenings at plant and office entrances, implementing mandatory mask-wearing and thorough hand washing, enforcing social distancing in the workplace, disallowing use of air conditioning, stepping up disinfection and installing partitions in staff cafeterias, restricting outsider access and precisely recording data on visitors, and forbidding multiperson gatherings and dining in groups. DIC (China) also conducted company-by-company checks of adherence to these guidelines to protect the safety of DIC Group workplaces across the region. Since the beginning of the pandemic, no infections have been reported among Group employees or their families in the PRC.

The experiences of the past year under COVID-19 also served to reinforce the understanding of DIC Group companies in the PRC of the importance of valuing the ties that bind people together. In addition to masks, companies distributed Spirulina extract to employees to help strengthen their immune systems. In the early months of the pandemic, when masks and other essentials were difficult to come by, shipments of such items from Japan helped ensure business continuity in the PRC. When the virus began spreading in Japan, DIC Group companies returned the favor, dispatching shipments of masks and other items to corporate headquarters in Tokyo, as well as to individual production sites. These companies also worked to contribute to local communities. For example, 97 employees of Changzhou Huari New Material Co., Ltd., volunteered to donate blood to help replenish supplies depleted by the pandemic. Changzhou Huari New Material also donated 20 modular baths to a temporary hospital in Hubei Province.
Although vaccination rollouts have begun around the world, when the COVID-19 pandemic will come to an end remains uncertain. DIC (China) and the companies of the DIC Group in the PRC pledge to continue working as one to assist their customers, as well as to contribute to society as a whole.