KUALA LUMPUR – Manufacturers taking part in the government’s newly introduced safe workplace plan must have their own teams to ensure compliance, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Elaborating on the ministry’s Safe@Work initiative allowing close contacts of Covid-19 patients to return to work, Azmin said the ministry will not be checking up on the companies involved as it does not have the manpower to do so.
“We have to empower the industries and they have to come on board (the initiative). Self-reliance and responsibility must be encouraged in the community and industry,” he told a press conference on the initiative this afternoon.
“You can’t expect Miti (International Trade and Industry Ministry) or the Mida (Malaysian Investment Development Authority), or our enforcement team to go to every single factory – that is impossible.”
Azmin said the companies involved must have their own regulation teams to do monitoring and auditing of the compliance.
“They must have dedicated teams to ensure compliance. Once they have managed to convince us that they can fulfil the requirements, they can start taking part in the initiative.”
The programme, announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday, is a standard operating procedure (SOP) that covers workers’ accommodation that meets the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446), management of infected workers and close contacts, screenings and other preventive measures to combat Covid-19.
To encourage the companies to take part, the government has introduced additional tax breaks on the expenses incurred for housing workers, as well as other equipment, such as wearable tracking devices and CCTV camera system, among others.
Azmin said the expenses entitled for tax relief are limited to a maximum of RM50,000 per company.
The companies, he said, can register for the programme via the ministry’s Covid-19 Intelligent Management System beginning April 1. – The Vibes, March 18, 2021
