1. Home
  2. COVID-19
  3. FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

As we collectively navigate this unprecedented COVID-19 environment, Lubrizol remains committed to the health and safety of our employees, our customers and our communities.

 

How is Lubrizol responding to COVID-19? 
As part of our safety culture, Lubrizol had pandemic plans and teams in place well before COVID-19. These teams were activated early in this journey and are regularly assessing and following both global health recommendations, as well as local guidance in all areas where we operate. Across the company, Lubrizol has a range of policies to support employees as they seek to balance their professional and personal lives during this environment.  

What practices and protocols have you put in place? 
Lubrizol has implemented our Pandemic Response Plan and has taken the following actions:  

  • Alternate work arrangements have been implemented for our teams wherever possible, including work from home and/or staggered work hours to minimize contact.  
  • We have established social distancing, enhanced PPE and disinfection protocols at our facilities. 
  • All visitors to our facilities are prohibited unless the visit is deemed business critical. 
  • We ask all contractors and drivers to abide by our enhanced protocols.
  • We are screening all personnel entering our facilities temperature measurement and verbal health surveys.  
  • All employee travel is prohibited, including between Lubrizol sites. 

What action is Lubrizol taking if there is a confirmed case on site? 
Our Pandemic Teams have strategic plans in place to respond to a local case. We have staffing plans to backfill issues that arise within shifts and are actively looking at all options to keep our sites safely operating.

We are currently following all guidelines to have employees quarantine/test if and when necessary.

Why is Lubrizol deemed “essential” in this environment and why is it critical your operations continue? 
Many of the products Lubrizol makes are essential to protection of emergency services and first responders, our healthcare systems supplied with critical resources, as well as ensure continuity of infrastructure, power generation, and transportation. 

How have your manufacturing operations been impacted?
At this time, our manufacturing operations capability across the world has not been significantly impacted, and the majority of inventory across our business also remains at normal levels.

We continue to closely monitor logistics flow and our supply chain to minimize disruptions.


What action is Lubrizol taking with suppliers to ensure continuity? 
Our procurement team’s efforts to ensure continuity of inbound raw material supply began long before the onset of COVID-19. We have established processes in place to understand our suppliers’ Business Continuity Plans (BCPs). We request updates to those BCP’s periodically to capture any changes.

We’ve had a formal Raw Material Risk Management Program (RMRMP) in place for almost a decade. This program was implemented shortly after the global recession of 2008 in response to numerous market disruptions.RMRMP assesses potential supply disruptions of major raw materials and identifies opportunities to mitigate known supply risks.  Where practical, we have taken steps to mitigate the highest risks of inbound supply disruption.

Since the first announcement of COVID-19 in China, our sourcing team has increased our supplier communications to identify any current or near-term supply constraints. We communicate that information directly with our global supply planning team and take appropriate mitigation actions as needed.


What are Lubrizol’s plans to spread the risk between plants and move stock if needed?
Our experience gained from managing production throughout hurricane season in North America can be applied to our process response. We have the capability of building safety stocks of high priority products and storing this material off site from our production location, where there is less risk presented. This has been done through bulk terminal locations, drum storage warehousing, and rail car storage.

How is Lubrizol responding to increased demands for hand sanitizers?

Lubrizol will enable an additional 1 billion bottles of hand sanitizer globally every month by increasing its Carbopol® polymer production. Lubrizol’s Carbopol polymers efficiently thicken hand sanitizer formulations and allow the gel-like form we know them as today, which allows for a more complete and effective application. Since early January, the company pulled every available lever to support growing Carbopol polymer demand and converted its global manufacturing assets to prioritize supply for cleansing and sanitizing products.

How are you supporting local communities during this time?
Supporting and protecting our neighbors is part of our corporate philosophy. In this COVID-19 environment, we’ve been actively supporting our communities with the goal of contributing at least $2 million toward COVID-19 needs. Learn more here.