In the second update from the company’s CEO Pascal Vinet, he explained that the company is still continuing to prioritise the safety of its customers, associates and communities.
“Knowing that the oxygen we deliver daily to hospitals and other aspects of our business are vital to our collective COVID-19 response, each part of our organisation is primed and implementing business continuity measures based on local needs,” says Vinet.
The company has said it is encouraging customers to follow social distancing recommendations by placing orders for direct delivery on the Airgas website or the Airgas punchout site, or by calling ahead at a local branch so they can prepare for order pickup.
“Because our business touches so many critical aspects of the US supply chain – from healthcare and pharmaceuticals, to food production, water treatment, power and energy, to name a few – Airgas has been listed as an essential supplier by the FDA Drug Shortage Unit, the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of Homeland Security.”
“To support federal efforts and our suppliers who will be diverting respirators for critical medical use, Airgas has decided to immediately stop the sale of disposable N95 respiratory products until further notice.”
“Medical facilities and first responders are in desperate need of these respirators and our suppliers are addressing that critical need.”
Airgas has said that its domestic gas operators will continue to produce and deliver essential products such as oxygen and other medical gases to its customers.
“We are ramping up the production of critical medical gases in preparation for anticipated demand related to COVID-19, drawing up our experience from peak flu season demand and natural disaster evacuation and response efforts, and the experience from our global Air Liquide responses.”
“Our national network of nearly 50 gas production plants, 370+ cylinder fill plants and 440+ FDA-registered medical gas fill plants provide redundancies to ensure continued production and delivery of essential products.”