COVID-19 Information

APEX Group actions concerning coronavirus COVID-19
In December 2019 in Wuhan China, originated an outbreak of a novel coronavirus also called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease it can cause is called coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19. In early March 2020, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) has declared the epidemic to “Pandemic” which called for urgent and aggressive measures worldwide to be taken in order to prevent and reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, measures which took and are still taking a heavy toll on societies and economies.

APEX Group affiliated companies are continuously committed to ensuring the protection of the health and safety of our employees and customers, as well as the local communities in which we operate. In our efforts to reduce the risks of spreading of coronavirus and to tackle the Group’s response to these challenging and uncertain times we have established APEX Group COVID-19 Pandemic Team. The Team has been involved since the early stage of COVID-19 outbreak to curb the potential and actual impact of coronavirus disease to our employees, customers and our business.

The Pandemic Team has done its utmost to ensure internal coordination between different locations, internal and external regulation in relation to Customers and tackling the impact on the business efficiency and production hindrance as a result of COVID-19. Extensive work was carried out by the Pandemic Team to continuously provide up-to-date information and guidance internally and externally in times of uncertainties and unforeseen future impact on our business. Considering that the Pandemic was imminent and with little prior warning the activities to be carried out by the Pandemic team were of no small feat.

APEX Group took the following steps in response to COVID-19:

• We have followed and applied all government instructions with regards to COVID-19 measures for employers at all our operating locations throughout Europe.
• We are actively informing and keeping our employees updated on all local governing and changing rules applicable to COVID-19.
• We safeguard our most vulnerable employees and apply special policy to them in order to protect them from contracting COVID-19.
• We have incorporated work-from-home policy since 11 th March 2020. APEX Group has taken COVID-19 seriously and did every effort in preventing the spread of the coronavirus disease to our employees. While our offices have closed doors we have established “Home Offices” for all employees who were fortunate to profit from the policy.
• We have discontinued any unnecessary business traveling and continue to apply strict limitations in order to ensure the health and safety of our people.
• We have actively reviewed our work and travel instructions and we provide our employees with regular travel advice updates and guidance.
• We have dedicated time and efforts to conduct regular online meetings and use other business communication technologies to keep daily business going and to accommodate our Customers’ needs.
• We have incorporated Mitigation Plans where and when necessary to meet our contractual obligations.
• Despite the traveling restrictions and health risks involved, our heat transfer engineering specialists continue to support Customers at their locations, where urgent support is required.
• We have incorporated partial Return-to-Work policy for our employees while designing our offices with protective social screens and providing all the necessary office supplies to limit the risks of contracting COVID-19.
• We have issued specific rules and request that no employee or guest may enter our offices when feeling unwell, travelling from high risks areas or having other related concerns as a result of COVID-19.
• We provide clear guidance to all our employees and managers on how to prevent infection and how to react in the case of suspected infection.
• We are continuously following the rapid developments of the Pandemic at all our operating locations and are ready to take further actions where and when necessary.

Regardless of the hardships caused to our business during COVID-19, our production facilities in The Czech Republic and Romania have worked hard to ensure APEX Group’s ongoing business and execution of projects. We have done everything reasonably possible to keep our business moving forward, to preserve our production levels and meet our Customers’ expectations and trust that they have vested in us. With every effort we continue to operate in most difficult and challenging times. We are thankful to our devoted APEX Group team and our Customers’ support.