Covid safety protocols laid for staff at airports ahead of reopening

Muscat: Safety protocols to protect staff dealing with passengers and cargo at airports in Oman have been issued, a senior official of Oman Aviation Group has said.
Mustafa Al Hinai, the group CEO of the company, added that all companies operating at the airport should follow these procedures, to limit the spread of COVID-19 among passengers, ground staff and air crews.
“The aviation sector is among the most well-regulated sectors, either locally or internationally, under the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the local Civil Aviation Authority (CAA),” he said.
“They have their own mandates in terms of how to establish safety and security protocols within airports, and under such circumstances, there are also national regulations set by the Ministry of Health.
“As of now, Oman’s airports and airlines in the country – not just Oman Air and SalamAir, but all airlines flying here – have to follow security protocols that ensure that Oman’s operations in terms of aviation is sustainable, and that there is no impact in terms of inbound travel to the country,” added Al Hinai.
The group CEO added that his company would make sure these protocols are followed at the airports. “The custodian of these protocols is the Civil Aviation Authority, but we too are mandated towards those codes, which form our code of ethics towards running these safety measures. The group company is mature in terms of adopting those regulations.
“I would like to also remind everyone that the Ministry of Health plays a big part in this regulation, because protocols during the pandemic are managed by a national health system, and we are mandated to maintain those types of measures,” he added.
In this context, Moustafa Osman, the country manager for DHL Oman, shed light on the measures adopted to protect workers in airport cargo terminals.
“We have fever checks for all of the staff who come to work in the morning, and anyone who has a temperature of 37.4 degrees or more is asked to undergo further checks,” he said. “To be safe, we conduct these additional checks in a separate area.
“Because we now have all of our staff back at work, we have had to rearrange our offices inside the airport, so that we can maintain social distancing and avoid unnecessary contact,” added Osman.
“All of the staff inside our offices also have to wear personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves, and undergo light sanitisation before they enter the building.
“Of course, we also have different checks for staff who are out in the field, whether they are loading and unloading cargo from the airplanes, or delivering them to our customers,” he went on to say.
“They have to undergo sanitisation, the vans in which they deliver these goods also have to be sanitised, and sometimes, depending on the cargo, we have to sanitise that as well. While these goods are delivered, our delivery team have to maintain social distancing.”