WORKPLACE SAFETY & HEALTH MANAGEMENT
SAFE WORKING
AND SAFE LIVING Singapore’s Inter-agency Task Force (ITF), set up to manage the Covid-19 situation at the dormitories, is executing Phase Three of its plan, which is to prepare for the recovery of dormitories, and the safe and gradual resumption of business activities. In the coming weeks, the ITF is aiming to recover dormitories or dormitory blocks, housing up to 60,000 migrant workers (around 20% of all dormitory residents). The ITF will systematically and progressively recover all remaining dormitories in the coming months, by testing and clearing all the residents. It will then ensure that these dormitories implement Safe Living protocols to ensure residents are kept free from infection as they prepare to resume work.
As the dormitories fill with recovered workers and workers who tested negative for Covid-19, dormitory operators, employers and workers have to strengthen dormitory management practices and accept necessary changes to their way of life, so that workers can live in dormitories safely. The changes will impact the workers’ movements, and how they interact and socialise with one another.
In tandem with the implementation of Safe Living protocols, companies are instituting industry-specific measures to ensure that workplaces are Covid-Safe.
Tighter control of entry & exit
As Singapore moves towards gradually easing circuit breaker measures, the twin emphasis of ‘Safe Working and Safe Living’ will help to reduce the risk of subsequent waves of infection.
SAFE WORKING To prevent the re-emergence of community cases as workers return to work, the tripartite partners have issued ‘Requirements for Safe Management Measures at the workplace’. Employers who are allowed to resume their operations are required to implement these measures to protect their workers. Sector-specific Safe Management requirements, such as for food and beverage (F&B) establishments, retail establishments, shopping malls, F&B and online retail delivery and for consumers have been set out by Enterprise Singapore. The Economic Development Board has also established Safe Management Measures for the manufacturing sector, and will be doing the same for the marine and process sectors.
For a start, residents from BRWs will only be permitted to leave for the purpose of work and must return to the BRW after work. This is conditional on their workplace being allowed to operate, and the implementation of Safe Management requirements. At some point, once the outbreak in the dormitory has been brought under control, it will be possible to consider allowing residents from BRWs to also leave the dormitory for non-work reasons. But the workers will still need to adhere to the prevailing safe distancing measures, which also apply to the rest of the community in Singapore. For example, they cannot gather in large groups, and additional measures will have to be taken to reduce crowd sizes at the popular locations where workers tend to gather. More details will be shared at a later date.
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA), in consultation with relevant Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs), will be issuing a set of Covid-Safe Restart Criteria for the resumption of construction work.
Limit intermixing of workers
SAFE LIVING
Dormitory operators will be required to set up barriers and marked routes from dormitory blocks to common areas and entrances. This will prevent intermixing of workers from different blocks. Within each block, residents will have to continue to stay within their level and rooms, and not move freely to other levels. Within the shared toilet facilities, specific showers, wash basins and toilets will be marked out for occupants of the same room. In other dormitories, residents will already have access to en-suite toilet facilities. Stoves in communal kitchens will
The ITF previously announced the designation of specific Blocks for Recovered Workers (BRWs) to house recovered workers who will be returning to their dormitories. The rooms and blocks will be progressively cleaned out and disinfected across the dormitories, to prepare for the return of recovered workers. Since then, more than 2,000 beds have been created in BRWs. By 18 May, all 43 dormitories were expected to have about 5,400 beds. 22
A BRW will be physically segregated from the rest of the dormitory. When a BRW has been occupied by recovered workers or workers who tested Covid-negative, the entry and exit of its occupants will be allowed to begin in a carefully regulated way. This will reduce the risk of Covid-19 re-emerging. Dormitory operators will be required to track all movement in and out of the dormitories.
THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER May 2020
Dormitory operators will have to put in place measures to limit intermixing of workers, so as to minimise the risk of transmission.
