13,000 Workers Still Unable To Return To Work Because Of Their Companies

Just two days ago, we wrote about how 16,000 foreign workers were unable to return to work because of their employers.

Foreign workers living in dormitories, as well as those working in the construction, marine and processing sectors, has to be scheduled for the bi-weekly Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) before they can resume work.

5 Sep was the deadline given to the employers since Aug 2020 and, as expected, there are still employers who did not do it anyway.

13,000 Workers Still Unable To Return To Work Because Of Their Companies

As of Sunday, 6 Sep, 13,000 foreign workers were still unable to return to work, reports CNA.

In a joint press release by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Building and Construction Authority (BCA), Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Health Promotion Board (HPB), it was revealed that the employers of these 13,000 workers have yet to schedule them for RRT.

This means that their access code will continue to be in “Red”, making them unable to return to work.

AccessCode Will Turn Green The Moment They Are Tested

While the deadline of 5 Sep has gone by, the authorities said that as long as the workers are scheduled and have undergone the RRT, their access code will turn ‘green’.

In other words, they’ll be allowed to go back to work.

It was added that the various agencies have been working to engage the various firms in the affected sectors since Aug 2020 and that they’ve given “sufficient” slots to accommodate the deadline.

Any employers who had difficulties scheduling their workers were assisted, the agencies said.

Firms Responsible For Routine Rostered Testing

The swab test is supposed to be arranged by the employers through the Health Promotion Board (HPB) Swab Registration System.

When they log into the RRT system, they will be able to see 18 regional screening centres and purpose-built dorms for Covid-19 tests.

All they have to do is to book their workers for the first session, and the following ones will be automatically determined by the system.

New workers will be added to the system whenever their dormitories are cleared of Covid-19 and employers have to log in regularly to see if there are new workers they need to schedule.

In other words, all employers need to do is to start the ball rolling and everything else will be taken care of.

As for the importance of the RRT, this scheme has been credited for helping to catch many Covid-19 cases, both within and outside the dormitories, early.

Remember those clusters that popped up dormitories recently? Now imagine how much worse it’ll be if there’s no bi-weekly testing to catch the asymptomatic cases?

In their press release, the agencies added that they have to do this because they need to “protect the health and safety of other workers”.

Hopefully, said employers will finally do something about it because when workers are stuck in the dormitories, wondering if they’ve still got a job, that’s when things become really extreme.