KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Furniture Council (MFC) proposed several measures to tackle the rising cases of Covid-19 within the furniture-making industry, including introducing “work bubbles” within factories and having wardens and patrol units at the workers’ accommodation.
The trade body had submitted the proposal, containing the various initiatives, to the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti), it said in a statement following a meeting with Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister I Datuk Seri Wee Jeck Seng today to discuss the growing positive Covid-19 cases related to the industry.
During this meeting – which followed a January 30 meeting between MFC leaders and Miti secretary-general Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali – Wee suggested that the industry bear the cost of vaccinations if it had been approved by the Health Ministry and urged industry members to conduct swab tests on their workers by the end of the month with the subsidy and benefits offered by the Social Security Organisation.
On the proposed initiatives, MFC said these included having “work bubbles” within factories wherein groups of workers would be given designated zones with facilities to prevent congestion; taking the temperature of workers twice daily; as well as the daily disinfection of workplaces and accommodations.
MFC also said that the industry would employ wardens to ensure that standard operating procedures were being followed and form patrol units to prevent strangers from approaching the factories’ hostel compound without authorisation.
“We are also exploring the possibility of collaborating with developers to construct centralised accommodation units such as being practised in Singapore,” it said.
MFC president Khoo Yeow Chong said the council had created several easy-to-understand multilingual posters for educating foreign workers regarding strict compliance to the Health Ministry’s SOPs.
On mobile clinics, he said the industry was seeking to collaborate with the government, hospitals, and clinics to convert multi-purpose halls into Covid-19 quarantine centres.
He noted that some bigger companies had even established their own quarantine centres. – Bernama, February 4, 2021
