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The government has instructed factory owners of labour intensive industries to use thermal scanners to monitor the body temperatures of workers at the factory entry points as a precautionary measure to check the coronavirus outbreak.
On Friday, the labour ministry issued a set of instructions to the owners of labour intensive industries including readymade garment, leather, plastic, frozen food and construction sectors.
The ministry instructed the owners to set up sufficient infrastructure for the workers in the workplace so that they can frequently wash hands using soap or handwash.
Letters containing the instructions were sent to the trade bodies concerned so that they directed their member factories to take steps in this regard, said ministry officials.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leathergoods & Footwear Exporters Association, the Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers & Exporters Association, the Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association and the Bangladesh Employers Federation, among others, received the letters.
‘We have sent letters to factory owners through the trade bodies and requested them to use thermal scanners to check body temperatures of workers and to ensure adequate facility in the factories for washing hands,’ labour secretary KM Ali Azam told New Age on Saturday.
He said that the ministry had taken the initiative to protect the country’s labour intensive sectors from the coronavirus outbreak as the World Health Organisation had declared the outbreak a pandemic.
Three people tested positive for the coronavirus for the first time in Bangladesh on March 8.
As per the ministry instructions, if a worker exhibits body temperatures of higher than normal levels along with other symptoms including cold, sneezes and coughs, the factory owners have to send him or her to quarantine on forced leave.
The labour secretary said that the ministry had asked the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments and the Department of Labour to take the necessary steps to implement the given instructions in the industries immediately and to open hotlines which would provide nonstop service to the sectors.
The DIFE and DoL have selected two phone numbers for opening the hotlines and the department would employ dedicated personnel at the facility to serve the industry and its workers to check the outbreak, Ali Azam said.
The labour ministry also requested the factory owners to follow the instructions issued by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research to contain the spread of the virus.
Citing the IEDCR guidelines, the ministry advised that in order to fend off the coronavirus, the workers were to follow the prescribed hygiene practices like washing hands with soap for at least 20 seconds, covering the face while sneezing and coughing, using mask if symptoms of coronavirus such as fever, coughing, sneezing and breathing difficulty appeared and to avoid public gatherings.
Mohammad Hatem, first vice-president of the BKMEA, said that many of the factory owners had already started to use the thermal scanners at their factories.
He said that the factory owners would have used the scanners on their own to protect the country if even the government had not issued any instructions in this regard.
The coronavirus pandemic broke out in China in December last year and has now spread to over 115 countries, including Europe and North America.
More than 1,45,000 people have become infected with the virus and over 5,400 others have died across the world so far.
(NA)
