42 Companies Fined For Breaching COVID-19 Rules After MOM Inspected Over 5K Companies

By
Shawn Ambrose
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If you ask some of your friends if they miss working in the office, they’d laugh until they collapse on the floor.

Others, presumably living with some annoying family members, might start sobbing and say yes repeatedly.

Whichever group you belong to, working from home remains the default arrangement for now.

While there were plans to relax some workplace safe management measures, the rise of community cases and clusters has thrown a spanner in the works.

Despite this, dozens of employers called their workers back to the office, and are now facing the consequences.

42 Companies Fined For Breaching COVID-19 Rules After MOM Inspected Over 5K Companies

42 firms have been fined for failing to adhere to workplace safe management measures, according to The Straits Times.

Their offences came to light between 28 Sep last year and 15 Jan, when the Ministry of Manpower conducted an inspection of 5,380 workplaces.

The most common violations were calling employees back to the office even if their jobs could be done from home, and failing to put clear safe distancing markers in common areas at the workplace.

These companies are fortunate, however, that they weren’t ordered to cease operations.

According to ST, MOM conducted a similar operation last June and imposed 52 fines of $1,000 each on offending employers.

In addition, seven workplaces were ordered to shut for lapses.

It also conducted an operation last December targeting the transport and storage sector during the festive period.

Three of the Four Clusters Linked to Workplaces

So, why have plans to ease workplace restrictions been halted?

Two words: Covid-19 clusters in workplaces. 

Reader: That’s four words

At the moment, Singapore has four active clusters.

Of these, three have links to the workplace.

The first is the police K-9 unit cluster, which began with the infection of a 32-year-old para-veterinarian.

There are currently 7 cases linked to this cluster.

The second is the Golden Bridge Foods Manufacturer cluster, which has three cases.

The first confirmed case, who works at the food processing plant in Senoko, tested positive on 15 Jan.

The last cluster linked to a workplace is the BS Industrial and Construction Supply cluster.

It currently has eight cases, and the firm is under investigation for possible safe management breaches.

Four of the company’s employees had symptoms but did not seek treatment or report that they were unwell.

Current Rules for Employers

If you’ve recently called your worker back to the office to do something they can do at home, you might want to send them back immediately.

For those who don’t know, here are the prevailing safe management measures for workplaces:

  • Those who can do their jobs from home should continue to do so for at least half of their working time
  • No more than half of those who can work from home are allowed in the office at any one time
  • As much as possible, meetings should be kept virtual
  • Those working in the office should have flexible or staggered hours. At least half of all employees at the workplace should start at or after 10am. If this is not possible, there should be other arrangements to reduce congregation
  • Shifts or split-team arrangements should be used, and avoid interactions between teams, even outside work
  • Employees must wear masks at all times
  • There should be a distance of at least 1m between individuals at meeting rooms, work areas, workstations and at work events
  •  Common spaces must be regularly cleaned, especially areas with high human contact

Featured Image: August Phunitiphat / Shutterstock.com

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]