Otis Steps Up During COVID-19 Crisis

At Otis, we've always recognized that we're part of something bigger – our local communities and society at large. We also understand that we're better together, and it's this sense of common purpose that has prompted many of us to ask: what can we do to help during this time of distress and disruption?

Many of our teams around the world have stepped up in exceptional and inspiring ways. Otis reinforced these extraordinary efforts with a company contribution to support COVID-19 relief.

Our employee and corporate donations support the critical work going on around the world to track the spread of the virus; ensure that patients get the care they need and frontline workers get essential supplies; and to accelerate efforts to develop vaccines, tests, and treatments.

In addition, donations by U.S. employees to nonprofits supporting COVID-19 relief are matched dollar for dollar by Otis. We are working to enable company matching for all our employees around the world to make an even bigger impact.

As the coronavirus brought life to a standstill, our field professionals and our colleagues in Otis manufacturing facilities joined other essential workers around the world to help ensure that critical work got done and vital services continued uninterrupted. Otis China mobilized a team of installation experts from across the country to assist with an emergency expansion of the Shanghai Public Health Center. The facility was on high alert as it prepared for an influx of COVID-19 patients. The team installed six new elevators in just eight days under extraordinary conditions, which included getting tools shipped quickly from across China. In a similar effort, Otis France installed nine elevators in record time at the new intensive care building at the Henri-Mondor Hospital in Paris.

Meanwhile, Otis facilities in North America and Europe have been producing personal protective equipment (PPE) to meet local needs, while our global supply chain has been ensuring that our own employees are equipped with the necessary PPE, including masks. In the United States, the Otis Service Center in Connecticut has been 3D- printing and assembling face shields for distribution to local government offices, senior housing and a community college. Our factory in Vigo, Spain, has laser-cut thousands of plastic screens for a local professional school to assemble into face shields.

Our local teams have responded in numerous other ways, ranging from substantial donations of equipment to simple acts of generosity. Early in the crisis, Otis donated more than 100 elevator cab air-purifier systems to hospitals across the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the crisis in China. Otis Hong Kong partnered with a nongovernmental organization to deliver 100 care packages of face masks, hand sanitizers and nonperishable food items to the local elderly community. Otis Italy has contributed to the Red Cross and Ospedale Sacco Milano, the hospital caring for COVID-19 victims in Milan, located in Italy’s hard-hit Lombardy region. Otis India contributed to the Prime Minister’s “PM CARES Fund,” created to provide relief to the thousands of people in India affected by the coronavirus.

Our customers are letting us know that they appreciate the heroic efforts of our field professionals to keep them moving during the pandemic. We have received more than 1,000 notes of thanks, many singling out individuals for praise.

“We appreciate the untiring services of Akhil Gour in helping us run health care services to the COVID victims during restricted travel situations and social distancing.’’ – Bhopal (India) Memorial Hospital & Research Center.

“They have mirrored the unfailing dedication of Otis, which always works for the safety of customers and passengers against all odds.” – A customer in the hard-hit city of Daegu, Korea, expressed appreciation for the work of Yeong-sik Kim (left) and Dong- hyuk Jeong during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other things Otis is doing:

• The Otis Hong Kong team prepared care packages of face masks, hand sanitizer and nonperishable food items for delivery to the elderly.

• Screens for face shields were laser cut at our factory in Vigo, Spain.

• Otis Americas has been printing and assembling face shields at the Otis Service Center in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

• Topics:
• The Americas