Fire sends home 80 Dannex staff

The Head of Human Resource at Dannex Pharmaceuticals, Gabriella Koranteng, has told the B&FT that about 80 of the company’s 200 staff have been asked to go home following last Wednesday’s fire outbreak that swept through the company’s warehouse and other sections.

“Because our raw materials were burnt, there is nothing to produce with. This means that some parts of our lines have to come to a halt, and there are obviously people who work in those areas. So yes, some have been asked to go home, especially those in the areas that were affected,” she explained.

She insisted, though, that the said workers including technicians, machine operators and shopkeepers “have not been made redundant or laid-off as yet,” adding that “they are still staff of Dannex.”

She said a series of crisis meetings have been held since the incident in order to come up with a “work plan” to ensure that production resumes “as soon as possible”, and that the workers would be called back.

“Their reinstatement will be subject to the plans we come up with. The work plan will really guide everything that we do...we need to get ourselves organised and once everything has been cleared up or we know we have a clear strategy, we will communicate it to our staff.”

She could however not give timelines regarding when the company expects things to be cleared up for production to resume.

“It would be difficult to say when production will bounce back. A lot of factors come into play: when we are going to get our insurance [and] ordering of raw materials. That takes time...so I think it is too early to say.”

Asked whether the incident will affect the supply of the company’s products on the market, she indicated that it has built enough stock and the sales aspect of the business is still active.

“Those who rely on our products should rest assured that they will continue to have the products they trust from Dannex Limited, and we will continue to give them the support that we have always provided.”

A press statement released earlier in the week by the company assured customers that it will return to full-scale production after the on-going investigation by the Ghana Fire Service is completed.

Media reports have suggested that the company will receive not more than GH¢11million as insurance from Quality Insurance Company.

The insurance company, Gabriella said, is doing its own assessment, and the actual amount to be given as insurance will depend on that assessment.

Meanwhile, investigations by the police and fire service are ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fire that brought production to a halt at the North Industrial Area offices and warehouse of the company.

“The fire service is working on it; they’ve been here trying to do their own investigation. We have the police on board as well, trying to do their own investigation. So we hope that the cause will be known very soon,” Gabriella said.