COVID-19 Outbreak Management Plan

The health and safety of our employees, customers and communities is our highest priority.

During these uncertain times, we’ve taken direct action in response to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to safeguard the health and safety of our customers and employees.

The following document provides an overview of our crisis management and other risk mitigation efforts.

Crisis Management Overview Document


At Weatherford, we believe in safety always. We will continue to keep you informed as the situation changes, and we invite you to reach out directly with any specific questions about our response plans.

We began our response to the COVID-19 outbreak in January when we were made aware of its rapid spread through Wuhan, China.

COVID-19 Mitigation

We began our response to the COVID-19 outbreak in January when we were made aware of its rapid spread through Wuhan, China. Our global HSE teams immediately began communicating with teams on the ground in China, talking to local healthcare providers, and monitoring information from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

We activated our crisis management team, comprised of leaders across all our business segments, including QHSE, security, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, and operations. This team operates at an enterprise level to:

  • Make decisions to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our personnel
  • Proactively monitor threats to our business operations and mitigate where possible
  • Manage corporate messaging to employees, suppliers, and customers
  • Support Geozone Disruptive Events Management (DEM) teams in acquiring resources
  • Create and/or modify policies as required

Business Continuity Planning

Our Business Continuity Management (BCM) program operates based on the global planning standard ISO 22301. In response to COVID-19, the BCM team communicates with our key stakeholders on a continuous basis to ensure that we are well-positioned to sustain our operations in support of customers.

We are reviewing our critical processes and strategies to evaluate the two most common threats during a pandemic:

  1. loss of people; and
  2. interruptions of supply chains.

Based on this information and other emerging threats, we are refining our mitigation strategies to reduce the potential impact of a disruption if these risks become a reality.

Business Continuity Planning

Information Exchange

We’ve enacted crisis communication strategies to keep our employees aware of the latest developments of the pandemic and how they impact our operations. As part of our communications strategy, the following are the strategic ways we’re keeping employees informed:

  • Emergency response toolkits for employees and customers
  • Global communications, including email and social media as applicable
  • Digital facility signage
  • Screen savers with the latest information from the CDC and WHO

If you have any questions, please reach out to your Weatherford contact or send inquiries directly to our HSE team.

Travel Restrictions

To reduce the likelihood of contact with COVID-19, we’ve implemented global travel restrictions until further notice. Any business-critical travel requires assessment and approval from executive leadership. In addition, and reflecting the latest advice from the WHO, we are now imposing additional controls on domestic travel to further minimize exposure.

Work Conditions

At the onset of COVID-19, we established a remote working practice to allow employees, who were able, to work remotely to minimize the potential spread of COVID-19. Some of our offices recently opened with a phased approach. We implemented dozens of controls to keep employees safe, including a facilities management app, thermal scanning where local laws allow, new facility considerations – marked with signage – to help maintain social distancing and promote a hygienic workplace, and requiring face masks in all communal locations, among others. You can read more about our return-to-work procedures below. We have also given employees the option of continuing to work remotely until further notice. We’ve provided instructions to these employees about how to continue business from home, and our IT teams have prepared the appropriate infrastructure and licensing to enable remote work.

Travel Restrictions & Remote Work

Social Distancing

We’ve advised our employees to implement social distancing where it’s practical to do so. As part of its community mitigation strategy, the CDC recommends social distancing in the workplace and at home. At work, specifically, this means limiting in-person group gatherings at all Weatherford locations. Our teams have been instructed to use video conferencing and calls as an alternative.

It is still vital and necessary to engage regularly with our customers. Instead of in-person customer meetings, we are using video-conferencing applications to continue the business.

While we have implemented social distancing, we are also educating our workforce about the myths associated with COVID-19, as communicated on the WHO myth buster website. False information leads to stigmatization, which can undermine social cohesion and prompt possible isolation of certain groups. This social isolation can contribute to a situation where the virus is more, not less, likely to spread. To keep our employees and customers safe, we are sharing information to let facts, not fear, drive decisions.

Social Distancing

Our Role as a Critical Vendor

Due to the critical role we play in providing energy, Weatherford is considered an essential business and may continue to operate under the state of emergency and shelter in place orders recently issued in the United States.

We have been and will continue to adapt our actions as guided by the WHO and CDC. Many of these actions are listed on this page.

The health, safety, and wellbeing of our One Weatherford family remains our top priority as we continue to deliver critical goods and services to support communities around the world. We are proud to do our part to deliver energy for the world.

Our Role as a Critical Vendor

Return to Physical Workspace Procedures

Weatherford continues to monitor the risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. In those facilities where we have transitioned to remote-working arrangements, we have begun a phased approach for employees to return to the physical workplace. Our approach is one of caution and prudence and linked to several factors, including the disease profile locally, expert advice from organizations such as the CDC, and also local regulatory requirements.

Measures include an incremental return staged over several weeks, enhanced hygiene arrangements in all facilities, access controls comprising of thermal scanning/health questionnaires, and the widespread implementation of measures to afford social distancing as examples.

Additionally, we have procured the resources necessary to enable us to transition back to the physical workplace, such as the face covers recommended by the CDC and hand sanitizer. At the point where we do decide to transition back into any facility or office, our Global Crisis Management Team will provide active supervision and coaching of our employees.

Return to Physical Workspace Procedures