Above & Beyond: Covia’s Values in Action at NSO Plant

Today, Covia is pleased to recognize two individuals who have demonstrated their core values by going Above and Beyond. In the middle of challenging circumstances, each demonstrated the values that drive Covia’s success.

Recently, a major winter storm in Ontario knocked out power to both of Covia’s NSO plants and 400,000 homes in the surrounding area for several days. This outage crippled operations and prevented customers from picking up dozens of orders needed to keep their productions running.

NSO team members worked quickly and safely to restore some vital services and to support electrical contractors working to re-establish power. Their commitment to the team and doing the right thing helped expedite repairs. Many employees came to work once power was restored even though they had no power at their homes.

Covia is proud to see the way the team pulls together to respond to challenging events like this. Unfortunately, several natural disasters have affected Covia's plants and communities in recent years, and teams have shown remarkable resilience and determination to help each other and their communities.

At NSO, Amy Cox, Customer Service Manager, and Jeremy Cox, Maintenance Manager, demonstrated Covia’s values in their actions.

Amy demonstrated an unwavering commitment to Covia’s customers. As soon as the power went out, Amy immediately began rerouting customer trucks, working with operations to assess product availability, and maintaining communication with customers and the sales team—all while managing these tasks from her home, which was without power, heat, internet, or water, and ensuring the safety of her family and beloved farm animals.

“Amy’s dedication to our customers made a huge difference,” said Mark Styers, SVP, Commercial. “Because of her quick action, we had virtually no impact to our customers despite the severity of the storm’s damage.”

Leveraging his extensive network within Hydro One (the provincial utility) and the contractor community, Jeremy ensured that a contractor was on site the very next day following the storm to begin repairs, while also being physically present to oversee ongoing activities. 

One of the plant’s residents, an owl that had nested in one of the power poles that had been damaged, required special care. There was concern that this would cause another delay in restoring power back to the facility, but the team "sistered" the pole to allow the owl to remain in place unaffected. 

Mark Oskam, SVP, Operations, said, “Given the extent of the storm, recovery efforts are still underway. Thanks to the team’s work to provide access for the utility company and Jeremy’s efforts to make sure a contractor was on site right away, we were up and running at Nephton the following day and Blue Mountain the day after.”

Thanks to Amy and Jeremy's proactive measures, along with the efforts of the whole team at Covia’s NSO plant, they were able to work through the impacts of the storm without missing a beat.

Covia would like to extend a special thank you to Amy and Jeremy for going above and beyond. Their extra effort to do the right thing for Covia's team, customers, community and the environment demonstrates how living by their core values is built into the Covia way.

Covia recognizes that the NSO team collectively going Above and Beyond to help through this severe weather event and are pleased to call out Amy and Jeremy as specific examples.