The employee temperature was taken before the shift
“5K” compliance
From 6 am, the road leading to the factories in Phu Bai Industrial Zone started to be bustling. Hundreds of motorbikes came one after another to the factories, starting the daily work.
Inside the factory, the story the workers shared and discussed at the start of the day was not about salary and work, but about the number of COVID-19 positive cases related to the industrial zones announced by the Ministry of Health this morning.
I was present at Phu Hoa An Textile and Garment Joint Stock Company right at the start of the shift. From 6:30 a.m., the company arranged for 3 security guards, 1 health worker to "keep the gate", check body temperature, request the use of hand sanitizers for nearly 1,000 employees and guide medical declarations for customers coming to make transaction. Everyone urgently and cooperatively gets to work.
Since the recurrence of COVID-19 pandemic in the localities in the country in late April 2021, the security guards have worked 24 hours a day and increased capacity. When the enterprise strictly implemented the anti-pandemic measures, the employees and customers were required to comply with 5K before entering the company.
In the factory area, except the personnel and employees, no one was allowed to step inside. All entrances to the factory were kept by guards. On the sewing lines, early in the morning, the health workers prepared medical declarations and collected for inspection in mid-shift.
The worker of Thua Thien Hue Wood Processing Joint Stock Company scanned the QR code before entering the shift
According to security guard Nguyen Thanh Trung, with 1,000 employees, in order to complete the body temperature check in the morning, 4 health workers have to alternately stand at the gate, and it takes nearly 30 minutes. After workers enter the shift, the next job is to welcome, take temperature and guide medical declaration for all customers coming to make transactions, and take turns keeping the gates leading to the factory to make sure that no stranger enters.
In Phu Da Industrial Zone, many enterprises set up a medical declaration room right at the entrance. Behind the vacant lots about 50m from the factory, the medical isolation rooms were also set up to receive workers with symptom of fever, cough, breathing difficulty before local health officials are notified.
Director of Thien An Phu Textile and Garment Joint Stock Company Pham Gia Dinh affirmed, “The present top task is to proactively prevent, control COVID-19 pandemic at the factory in accordance with the principles of pandemic prevention: prevention, detection, isolation, localization, pandemic suppression to ensure the realization of dual goals: both pandemic prevention and assurance of production and business activities. We regularly propagate the risks, importance as well as risks of pandemic prevention at the factory to personnel and employees so that they can be aware of preserving, ensuring their health and limit the outside contact.”
Cross-supervision, tacit monitoring
Keeping garment factories safe and ensuring that there is no "F" in the enterprise precincts are not the only measure for COVID-19 prevention, but more importantly, it prevents the pandemic from outside the factories.
Phu Bai IZ workers practiced distancing at work for COVID-19 prevention
In order to effectively control the pandemic, many factories have implemented "cross-control" measures, whereby the responsibility is assigned to the COVID-19 prevention monitoring section, key staff, line managers, workers and the F’s information updating team.
Head of the Human Resources Team of Phu Hoa An Textile and Garment Joint Stock Company Bui Thi Hieu said that those who are easily infected with COVID-19 from outside are usually the workers living in boarding houses and densely-populated residential areas. Meanwhile, many people are not aware of their self-protection, so propaganda and awareness enhancement for workers is the thing for the enterprise to do regularly. In order to ensure that the factory is "clean", the units assigned the employees to carry out "cross-monitoring": one person monitors the other and updates information for managers.
“If the pandemic occurs in the factory, we will have to be off work while all living expenses of the whole family depend on the monthly salary. Therefore, apart from complying with the anti-pandemic regulations at the factory, we volunteer to "supervise" one another at the boarding house. If workers are found to be in contact with strangers or join in crowded parties, we will promptly report to the line manager for a solution," said garment worker Nguyen Thi Ha.
In addition to supervision, the enterprises also implemented drastic measures against the subjects in contact with the group of infection risk or "F" cases in residential areas.When hearing of F1, F2 cases in residential areas, the anti-COVID-19 pandemic subcommittee will localize and investigate whether there are any workers in the factory living there to " localize, suppress pandemic". If detected, the workers will be laid off to monitor their health.
The factory gate strictly kept
After the 4th outbreak, the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the domestic IZs increased sharply, the anti-pandemic team of Thua Thien Hue Wood Processing Joint Stock Company urgently got involved in prevention. The personnel-employees show the pioneering, exemplary role in strictly keeping the factory gate.
Company director Le Duong Huy said that with more than 200 employees working at factories, in case of a COVID-19 positive case, the factory must be closed, production activities will be stagnated, and export orders fall behind schedule. At that time, the enterprise must compensate for the contract; the employees’ income is also difficult to guarantee. “Strictly keeping” the factory gate to prevent "F" cases from entering is the top task and the vital target for the enterprise.
According to Mr. Huy, aside from setting up a "steel fence" right from the entrance gate with the anti-pandemic measures by the Ministry of Health, the regulations and set of criteria for COVID-19 prevention by the Provincial Management Board of Economic and Industrial Zones. The enterprises have implemented many synchronous solutions to prevent the risk of infection through distancing at factories, canteens, and on worker shuttle buses. Simultaneously, there are the sanctions against the workers who violate and do not comply with the anti-pandemic regulation.
According to Mr. Ho Huy Hinh, Deputy Head of the Investment, Enterprise and Labor Department under the Provincial Management Board of Economic and Industrial Zones, shortly after the appearance of many COVID-9 positive cases in domestic IZs, the board developed an anti-pandemic plan at the workplace in accordance with the guidance by the Ministry of Health and the Provincial People's Committee on guiding the prevention, control and assessment of the risk of COVID-19 infection at workplaces and dormitories for workers.
Story and photos: THANH HUONG