Factories have problems when workers live on site

Dang Quynh Giang

The British CEO sent this message to all his employees a few days ago: “The government sincerely apologizes for the stress and anxiety caused by the company’s positive cases. I know you have trusted management to keep everyone safe and I’m sorry we couldn’t do it. I want to ask my deepest apologies F0 – to our friends who are isolated. Our company must suspend operations until this case is resolved. “

Our company had approved three on-site systems more than a month ago, and more than half of the more than 2,000 employees had signed up to work and not leave the factory or go home.

We invest billions of dongs in start-up and daily expenses to get more than 1,000 people to eat, live and work on site. The company did not expect a profit at the time and was even afraid of losses. The main goal was to try to ensure that workers did not become unemployed during the pandemic and to fill important orders.

Normally, employees eat one meal at work. But now the company had to offer three main meals and dinner every day.

We remodeled, expanded the factory, and built more toilets and bathrooms to ensure there were enough workers. Each person was given a mattress, mosquito net, blanket, pillow, toothpaste and toothbrush, hanger and sink. They were also given shampoo, shower gel and laundry detergent every week.

The company also quickly installed table tennis tables, roller skating areas, badminton courts, mini football courts, and shuttle kick and training areas.

Each living area had a large screen for watching movies and listening to music, and each workshop was equipped with a speaker for singing karaoke during the break.

On Saturdays, employees were offered up to three cans of beer and snacks.

In addition, we had purchased several oxygen tanks, supplements, antipyretics, N95 masks, and protective equipment in advance. The cost of weekly Covid-19 tests was also significant.

Workers in the working team of Thanh Cong Clothing Factory in Tan Phu County, HCMC. Photo: VnExpress / An Phuong

As a precaution against Covid disease, each worker had to undergo a negative test from the beginning before he arrived at the plant within a day.

They are then quarantined in a separate area and receive a PCR test after five days. Only if the test was negative were they allowed to act.

If an employee needed more necessities, he could register with the office and the company ordered them from supermarkets, and the goods were delivered once a week.

The supermarket staff would place the ordered goods in a certain place and pull them out, and the company staff would disinfect and bring the goods in.

All transactions with non-essential contractors and suppliers were suspended. In units that needed to maintain activities such as supplying raw materials or purchasing food and beverages, staff must test Covid-19 negative within three days and wear protective clothing.

They were not allowed to leave their vehicle, which was sealed between entering and leaving the factory.

We even divided the factory into bubbles, and each bubble was further divided into smaller areas with separate living spaces so that different groups would not interact with each other.

That way, if unfortunately one of the groups had Covid disease, the rest would stay safe.

Normally everyone in the company eats in the cafe, but now the meals were delivered directly to the employees ’workstations.

The kitchen and cleaning staff and guards had their own bubbles and they only worked there.

But despite such thorough precautions, the factory found a case of Covid earlier this week because of our great shock and grief.

All operations had to be stopped immediately.

We have no way of determining how Covid came into the company. It may be that some newcomers carried the disease with them, even though their first two tests proved negative, and the virus only began to spread later.

It may also be that the employee secretly received some goods from outside the fence through at night.

I know that many other companies have encountered similar situations despite the three systems implemented on the ground. Some of them found the infections late and became sources of outbreak. Eventually, their bosses had to look tearfully when their businesses closed.

As an insider, I really feel the pain that all the efforts and dedication of hundreds of people are wasted.

Successful implementation of the three on-site models requires absolute screening and complete control.

If there are still transactions with outsiders, there is always a risk that defenses will break.

In areas where the disease is still spreading in the Community or where the requirements are not being met, the model used on the spot can quickly become a nightmare.

A production outage means a break in the economy, a break in workers ’jobs and livelihoods.

But I can’t help but wonder if there’s another method that’s more effective than three on-site production.

If there is no alternative for this model to be effective, companies need the support of the authorities to reduce the pressure. This could include tax breaks, lower interest rates on Covid-19 testing fees, electricity and water fees, and bank loans, or support for workers ’wages in quarantine before starting work.

Our company decided to quarantine them for five days. If we had quarantined them for 14 days, security would have been better, but labor costs would have put tremendous pressure.

All companies struggle with maintaining and managing production without knowing for themselves whether they will close the next day.

I hope that the Ministry of Health will give priority to vaccinations for workers in the factories, industrial parks and distribution companies that we handle on a daily basis. This is vital for the manufacturing and logistics industries and for keeping supply chains intact.

The companies are a great partner of the government, so we are ready to help with the vaccination campaign to prevent production disruptions.

We need a mechanism to implement this cooperation.

* Dang Quynh Giang is a lawyer. The opinions expressed are his own.