More than 20 days, more than 500 tons of medical waste disposal, an average of 25 tons/day, the peak can reach more than 40 tons, more than 1300 barrels...... With this round of COVID-19 under control, Nanjing has been revitalized, but these figures still bear witness to the "war" without smoke. Behind the figures, Nanjing Excellent Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. adheres to its mission and has the "excellent feelings" of cooperating with medical waste management.

"Be a responsible corporate Citizen"

With this round of Nanjing epidemic coming to an end, Nanjing Excellence Factory gradually returned to calm. Entering the factory, a striking slogan came into view - "Be a responsible corporate citizen", which witnessed everything that happened here not long ago.

Time back to July 20, the new coronavirus outbreak in Nanjing suddenly arrived, the city has opened more than 300 centralized isolation points, medical waste has increased sharply, and the daily output has reached nearly 200 tons. In order to relieve the pressure of medical waste disposal, Nanjing Municipal Government issued a call to Nanjing Excellence to cooperate in the disposal of medical waste.

To answer or not to answer? This became a choice for Nanjing's top management. The possibility of employees being infected, the impact on the original capacity indicators, the risk of the plant being locked down... There are too many uncontrollable factors, it is like a time bomb, buried in the factory, the crisis is everywhere.

"Duty-bound!" The four words of Hu Jianmin, chairman and general manager of Snow Wave Environment, are like a reassuring pill. For Nanjing Excellence, this is not actually a choice question, but a required answer. A special working group was urgently set up to issue an emergency plan for coordinated treatment of medical waste. At 8 o 'clock in the morning on July 31, the first emergency medical waste collection and transport vehicle entered the company, and the battle of Nanjing Excellence was officially started.

Daily nucleic acid testing, investigation of sources of medical waste, meticulous elimination, closed-loop management of personnel, and strict management have brought tremendous pressure to the management. In order to dispel the concerns of front-line employees, the company's management, production managers, and workshop directors take the lead in going deep into the front line and standing with employees.

External pressure is also mounting. Receive high-density research, respond to management requirements of different departments, face complaints from nearby residents... The managers of the company are faced with a series of difficult problems.

Thousands of tasks need to be arranged, and all management personnel have never left the factory since taking on the difficult task, and are on standby 24 hours a day to coordinate and deal with various problems on site. "We are suffering every day. We are under a lot of pressure, but we don't want to pass the pressure on to our employees for fear of causing negative emotions or negative effects. Only we know the contradictions and hardships involved." Yong Yonghui, general manager of Nanjing excellence, sighs.

After the hard came the sweet, the battle was won. "Companies like Nanjing Excellence should be supported by both local and municipal governments," said Huo Huiping, deputy mayor of Nanjing, during the on-site survey.

"A company has the wisdom and courage to stand up to many difficulties and help society shoulder risks. This is a responsible corporate citizen." Nanjing excellent management team commented on the medical waste disposal work.

A war without smoke

Although the battle against the epidemic has won victory, there are still some problems in the treatment of medical waste.

August 2, is a particularly critical period of medical waste disposal, 5:40 p.m., due to the power increase, excessive load led to the fan coupling break, in the face of the company has no inventory, no related accessories, and the urgent situation of medical waste continued to come in, the relevant personnel led by the Ministry of Power Security worked overnight to solve the problem. Zhou Shilei, deputy general manager of Nanjing Excellence, was still at the scene at 3 am, dispatching and commanding, in order to solve the problem as soon as possible and ensure the normal disposal of medical waste.

At 2 a.m. on August 3, the alternative plan was finalized; At 1 p.m., the new equipment enters; At 11 p.m., the induced draft fan started normally. Watching batches of medical waste being transported into the incinerator, all the personnel breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, a full 30 hours have passed since the failure occurred, and the sweat on their faces still seems to be telling the thrilling 30 hours of emergency repair.

"In that case, we can only race against time, there are 30 to 40 tons of medical waste in the material pit to be treated, and the medical waste will continue to come in, if we don't receive it, then the medical waste will have nowhere to go." Production manager Liang Yan said.

Another tricky problem is the winding and clogging of the feed. The protective clothing, infusion tube and other materials in the medical waste are long and soft, and the crushing system cannot be effectively broken. When passing through the double helix and scraper, entanglement and blockage often occur, so the entanglement needs to be manually removed at some key nodes to ensure normal material delivery.

Although there are corresponding tools, employees still need to maintain the equipment by hand during the actual operation, contact with medical waste, even if wearing gloves, it is still full of risks, and this group of employees is also called "death squad" in the medical waste disposal work.

During the peak period, the feeding amount is large, the entanglement and blocking of the material occur frequently, and the failure rate of the feeding scraper also increases. Once, at 11 o 'clock at noon, the equipment failed because of the medical waste wound, and it was also this batch of "death squad members" who put down their hands and just ate two bites of food, carried out emergency repairs, until the equipment was restored to operation, a total of 3 hours before and after, and then returned to the table, the food was already cold.

The mixture of leather and needles in medical waste is extremely dangerous. During a cleaning process, two of the employees were accidentally stabbed by a needle, and the sharp needle pierced the glove and directly through the skin. What's inside the needle? Is it related to the epidemic? Do you have the virus? These need to be checked carefully. After the company found the situation, it immediately reported to the Nanjing epidemic prevention and control headquarters, and the Nanjing Health Commission urgently led employees to the Municipal People's Hospital for detailed examination, analysis and exclusion of infection risks, but fortunately no one was infected.

Disposal of zero accidents, zero inventory of medical waste, zero infection of personnel, the efforts of all staff of Nanjing excellence handed over a successful answer sheet.

The collaborative disposal of medical waste has also brought some losses to Nanjing Excellence, but the management team is very optimistic about it. "Although it has had a certain impact on our production indicators, but with such an excellent team, we believe that through optimization management and full efforts, we can make up for the loss of this part of capacity."

Responsible, dare to take on, "be a responsible corporate citizen", this eye-catching slogan is still witnessing the extraordinary excellence of Nanjing.

"A group of lovely people"

Supporting the sense of corporate responsibility is a "Nanjing outstanding people".

Get up at 6:30 in the morning, go to the specific area at 8:00 to wear protective clothing, wear masks, goggles, gloves, and put on protective boots, while silently reading the process requirements, go to the medical waste disposal isolation area, conduct daily temperature detection at 8:30, and officially start work, killing, unloading... From this, the medical waste disposal team staff Dong Master a day's work began, this work, he did for nearly a month.  

From 8:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night, "fully armed" shift work for 12 hours a day, even if the provisions of continuous work for 2 hours must go to the rest room, but each time the Dong master who took off the protective suit, still "as if just out of the water." After a few mouthfuls, a short rest, and a new protective suit and mask, Dong is ready to work again with his colleagues.

In the closed working area, there is not only medical waste, but also industrial waste, and the smell is filled in the entire closed area. The sweat in the protective mask is mixed with the sour smell, and the sweat is inhaled and the breathing is difficult, which has caused great trouble to the work of Master Dong. But he persisted from the beginning to the end, did not retreat, did not shout a bitter, said a tired.

In fact, this is just a microcosm of Nanjing's outstanding medical waste disposal work. A total of 27 people like Dong, who are always fighting in the front line during the peak period, were transferred from the production Department and temporarily formed into a special team for medical waste disposal.

Throughout the disposal process, the incineration workshop, storage workshop, landfill workshop, physical and chemical workshop, sewage workshop and other fully supported, a total of 400 batches of personnel before and after, more than 60 employees directly involved in the loading and unloading of medical waste, transfer, disposal. They are brave enough to fight on the front line, a set of soaked protective clothing, a pair of masks that can wring out sweat, and a sheet of forms filled with records, telling of their difficulties.

At the peak, the medical waste in the pit was piled up like a hill, two or three meters above the ground, "we were afraid to look at it", and all the on-site personnel were highly nervous. The company issued a death order, all personnel will reach the mission, 24-hour shift uninterrupted work, to ensure that the medical waste is clear, do not stay at night, eliminate all infection hazards, even in the disposal of the peak period can be handled within 18 hours clean.

It is such a group of lovely people, their firm faith, they are full of responsibility, their hearts are in the same place, the effort to work together, to win this hard battle.

Photo/Nanjing Excellence Shen Mi

By Miao Jiabin, Human Resources