CLEANING companies in Bahrain have adopted new measures to contain the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19), it has emerged, writes the GDN’s Ghazi Alshehabi.
Urbaser Bahrain, which provides garbage collection and cleaning services in the Northern and Southern Governorates, has divided its 1,500 workers into four separate sections within its labour camp in Ras Zuwaid.
The new measures might slow down the cleaning process but project manager Yassin El Behouan said the changes were necessary in order to protect the health of the workers and people in the areas where they work.
“We check the temperatures of the workers before they enter the bus, at work sites and even before they enter the camp at the end of the day,” he said.
“The new procedures are taking more time and effort as we need to sanitise and disinfect equipment and even secure rubbish bins before we remove what’s in them.
“We have even changed the way we clean the roads and neighbourhoods; we pour detergents and scrub the areas.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a huge shift from how we used to operate before, but our priority is safety and protection of the community.”
He added that the machines used by the company are programmed to get rid of germs and viruses.
Meanwhile, Gulf City Cleaning Company (GCCC) director Fawzi Abdulla Nass said the company has had to maintain a constant awareness of Health Ministry guidelines and government decisions relating to the epidemic, in order to come up with an effective strategy for the collection of household-type waste and street cleaning.
“These services play an important role in upholding public health and because these activities are labour-intensive, preserving the health of our workforce is very important,” he told the GDN.
“A single case of infection could have far-reaching consequences on the company’s ability to maintain levels of service, which may further impact on parts of the community.
“For this reason we instil the need for our employees to maintain personal hygiene standards and limit close contact with people as far as is reasonably possible.
“This is difficult given that the daily routine depends on team-work alongside keeping a close working relationship with the municipalities and the trade union.
“We are now collectively waging a war against a virus but let us not overlook the battle to reduce waste and look to improve the aesthetic cleanliness of our environment,” he said.
The company works in the Capital and Muharraq governorates.
In addition to adhering to the Health Ministry’s guidelines, the company also activated several measures to ensure the safety of its employees and the public such as delaying the return of employees on leave until further notice and obtaining two extra labour camps to supplement the existing main camps at Askar and Sanad.
This has enabled the expat labourers and drivers to be dispersed more widely to limit contagion as the virus spreads.
All of the camp buildings and Sitra depot include quarantine rooms for any person thought to be infected.
Temperature checks are conducted on all employees and visitors entering GCCC premises and visitors are to be regulated through an appointment system and hand sanitisers are located at all entrances.
The company has also launched a full awareness and prevention campaign to ensure the welfare of the labour and staff through multilingual notice boards at all labour camps and company premises.