Establishment of Internal Policies and Procedures for COVID-19 Workplace Prevention and Control

May 4, 2020

PEZA MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 026-20

 

We enjoin all PEZA-registered enterprises and developers to establish written policies and procedures to prevent and control transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the workplace. This may be done through the Occupational Safety and Health Committee, with the Safety Officer as the lead.

Recent policy issuances and guides may be used in formulating the internal protocols, these are as follows:

• ILO Action Checklist. This is a management tool to identify actions to take in the following aspects: (A) policy, planning and organizing; (B) risk assessment, management and mitigation; (C) prevention and mitigation measures; (D) handling of suspected, probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases. Issued on 09 April 2020.

• DOH Risk-Based Public Health Standards. This is a guide for all sectors (e.g., home, public place, communities, office/workplace, food and service industries) in coming up with interventions such as engineering control, administrative control and use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Interventions are classified as mandatory "must-do" or optional "can do" based on the risks for each particular sector. Issued on 27 April 2020. HTcADC

• DTI-DOLE Interim Guidelines. This provides the list of mandatory measures that should be in place in the private sector workplace, some salient features not mentioned in past COVID-19 local workplace guidelines include the following:

o Employers to provide appropriate face masks for workers;

o Provision of isolation area for checking of temperature of incoming workers and visitors;

o Eating in communal areas and engaging in conversation while eating is discouraged;

o Office work areas to be rearranged or physical barriers may be used to promote 1 meter radial distance between workers;

o Designation of safety officers and roving personnel to monitor implementation;

o Employers may conduct COVID-19 testing following current DOH protocols.

PEZA has formulated its own internal procedure for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in its offices through MC 2020-24, we encourage companies to use this and the abovementioned policies in coming up with their own protocols. All the underlined words in this document provides a link to the relevant policies, please click the underlined words to access the relevant files. CAIHTE

For questions or concerns, please send an email to the Environmental Safety Group at [email protected].

For compliance.

(SGD.) BGEN CHARITO B. PLAZA, MNSA, PhDDirector General