- MITCH M. LIPA
The Emergency Operations Center Task Force of Bacolod City reminded business process outsourcing firms of the need to strictly enforce health and safety protocols after 41 personnel of Transcom turned positive for COVID-19.
“We all have shared responsibility to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and abide by the health and safety guidelines of the EOC, the local and national governments,” the letter dated Feb. 2 stated.
Stressing that policies are mandated to be observed in the workplace, the EOC provided the BPOs a copy of the recommended occupational safety and health protocols.
Earier, the City Legal Office sought the assistance of the Department of Labor and Employment Provincial Field Office in inspecting the Transcom facility to assess their compliance on employees’ safety as mandated in the Labor Code of the Philippines.
City Legal Officer Joselito Bayatan sent a letter to DOLE Provincial Labor Enforcement Head Agnes Capigon, who has the visitorial power over private companies, to look into the “health aspect of the workplace” for its employees.
“The city is investigating how come the positive cases reached 41 before it was known by the EOC-TF,” Bayatan said.
The inspection will determine if there are lapses in the enforcement of health protocols set by the local government, he added.
Bayatan cited the provision in the Labor Code requiring a company with more than a hundred employees to have a clinic with a doctor or nurse on-duty to check the health status of employees.
“When everyone is monitoring the daily update of COVID-19 cases, the company’s clinic should have earlier detected the first positive case and placed the patient in isolation,” he said.
DOLE-6 Regional Director Cyril Ticao said that as soon as they will receive the letter of Bacolod City, he will instruct the Provincial Field Office to take action by investigating the matter.
Bayatan also cited the possibility of a violation in the company’s non- compliance with the Bacolod City COVID-19 Contact Tracing (BaCTrac) System.
“The system could have been a help in tracking close contacts of those who came out positive of the virus,” he said.
City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of EOC-TF, said they recommended the shutdown of Transcom’s operation for 48 hours since the situation is already in the workplace transmission stage.
“They should have a house coordinator who is in charge of monitoring of the first case to avoid the spread of the virus,” Ang said.
The BPO company will resume its operation tomorrow, Feb. 4, after the disinfection of the workplace.
Ang said the management of Transcom informed them that executives from the head office will arrive on Feb. 5 to meet with the city officials to discuss issues on the possible breach of health protocols. — MML
