Penalties poised against firms ignoring work safety protocols

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AS companies slowly resume operations, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday said administrative penalties will be slapped against companies that will be found not complying with existing health and safety protocols set in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the DOLE is ready to penalize companies that will violate the Interim Guidelines on Workplace Prevention and Control of COVID-19 it jointly issued with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last May.

“We will give them a notice and require them to comply with the guidelines. We will give them 15 days to comply,” said Bello, adding: “After that, if they refuse to comply, we will slap them with administrative penalties.”

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Bello said they have already received some complaints over non-compliance of companies.

“We have received ‘very few’ complaints over non-compliance to our health protocols,” said Bello even as he admitted that the department’s monitoring capability is not yet at full strength.

“We have yet to conduct inspection because the government is still under skeletal workforce,” said Bello.

Provisions under the joint guidelines include the provision of appropriate face masks for workers, accomplishment of a daily health symptoms form, regular temperature check, and submission of accomplished health symptoms questionnaires.

The guidelines also provide that disinfection must also be done for equipment or vehicles entering the establishments, including facilities, and touched objects, such as doorknobs and handles, at least once every two hours; and that the employer shall ensure a one worker per table and one-meter distance per worker scheme.

DRIVERS

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said drivers of public utility jeeps (PUJS), especially of the older models, may be given alternative livelihood means including working as contact tracers for those who have been potentially exposed to the virus.

Roque, in an interview by the ABS-CBN News Channel, said the government is looking to hire 130,000 contact tracers at present to augment is current number.

“We’re actually considering alternative livelihood for them (PUJ drivers). There’s a suggestion that they may be employed as contact tracers because we do need about 130,000 of them and there’s only about 30,000 employed so far,” he said.

He added that it is only one of the ideas being discussed for now.

Roque said government is also looking at a “complete reconfiguration of the jeepney to comply with minimum health standards” and eventually enable the PUJ drivers to continue to ply the streets.

He said the present face-to-face arrangement in the traditional and older PUJ models is not allowed due to the “almost physical impossibility to have social distancing.”

He said the more modern, front-facing PUJs may eventually be allowed “sooner or later” to accommodate and serve more commuters.

Roque reminded the public that only a limited number of public utility vehicles are allowed under the general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ (MGCQ).

“We will never get to the point that we can provide 100 percent transportation to what we used to have in the workplace,” he added.

In an interview by state television PTV4, he said government agencies and institutions like the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines have already deployed trucks and buses to help ferry commuters and workers who have returned to work after the easing of the lockdowns to GCQ and MGCQ.

He reiterated the government’s call for the private sector to either provide shuttle service to their employees or follow the example of government of allowing only 50 percent of their employees to work in the offices while the rest are working from home.

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MRT-3 RIDES

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said senior citizens are allowed to board MRT-3 trains as long as their travels are essential.

Tugade the MRT management was merely complying with the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) which states that “persons who are 60 years old and above are not allowed to go out or they should stay at home, except for those buying essential goods and services”.

“Our attention was called by reports from various media outlets regarding the Commission on Human Rights’ allegation that senior citizens are not permitted to ride the MRT-3,” he said.

Tugade said the rail line, however, allows susceptible individuals to board the train provided that their purpose for using transport is “indispensable under the circumstances for obtaining essential goods and services, or for work in permitted industries and offices.”

“MRT-3 assures its adherence to IATF’s general guidelines for the riding public in terms of mass transportation,” he said.

MRT-3 trains started running on partial capacity last Monday after Metro Manila transitioned to GCQ status. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Noel Talacay

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