Enabling resilience in the face of the unplanned

Best in Enterprise Resilience Certification seal

the Dow team is coordinated and ready to respond and take action when the need arises. Its this collaboration and preparedness that enable our resilience.

Resilience is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties” or “to spring back,” and is often used to describe people or organizations that overcome a challenge – like a personal tragedy, a natural disaster, or even a year like 2020. Resilience is the ability to face the unplanned, navigate through the complexities that life can bring and embrace another day.

In late July, Dow was honored with the certification of “Best in Enterprise Resilience” which recognizes companies for their preparedness, commitment to safety and ability to keep the business running safely and reliably. We are proud to receive this recognition but even more humbled because the actions we are being recognized for are simply how we operate in an emergency or crisis, and are aligned our efforts to protect people, protect the environment, and protect our assets.

So why does enterprise resilience matter?

In short, enterprise resilience matters because our employees and the communities we operate in matter. As a company we have an obligation to our employees, our customers, and the communities we are in around the globe to be prepared for the unexpected. And when an incident does occur, we therefore have the obligation to respond quickly to mitigate the impact as best we can.

Examples of Dow actions include sending critical supplies to aid in humanitarian relief, safely shutting down our operations, or being agile and innovative with our supply chains to ensure customers receive product that enables them to continue operating and providing critical goods.

In 2020 the community where Dow was founded and is headquartered – Midland, Michigan – experienced devasting flooding. Our teams quickly responded to support our employees and the community who experienced flooding in their homes and to safely shutdown our assets to prevent a potential environmental incident. Further, we have continued to support flood recovery ever since.

And more recently, the Dow team in Johannesburg, South Africa coordinated purchase and dispatch of critical relief items including food, sanitary and medical supplies to distressed employees and contractors in Durban city, which was heavily affected by the recent political unrest. The local Durban team packed and distributed over 90 parcels of mixed items, a demonstration of our commitment to the wellbeing of our employees and their families during a crucial time when fuel and food supply was scarce around the city.

These examples show Dow’s enterprise resilience in action.

Relief items delivered for distribution in Durban city

Relief items delivered for distribution in Durban city

Real-time situational awareness

Going a step further, Dow’s commitment to enterprise resilience isn’t limited to a reactive or backward looking view of events that have already happened. In fact, preparedness for the unplanned is just as important as our response.Through collaboration with companies like Everbridge and amongst teams across Dow, we have built capabilities that allow us to closely track, monitor and anticipate situations before they impact our people and operations. It is this real-time global situation awareness that enables us to quickly mobilize our teams to bring the right people to the right place at the right time.

Always striving to be better prepared

Dow’s resilience is a constant work in progress. It is not a matter of if but when the next event will happen, and resilience is not a destination but a never-ending journey that requires a team mentality. It’s our obligation to protect people, the environment and our assets so each and every day our teams are preparing for and anticipating the next unplanned event, both inside and outside of our gates. Employing our SeekTogether spirit and aligned to a common purpose, the Dow team is coordinated and ready to respond and take action when the need arises. Its this collaboration and preparedness that enable our resilience.

 

John Sampson, Senior Vice President, Operations, Manufacturing and Engineering
 
Scott Whelchel, Chief Security Officer, Global Emergency Services & Security