Covid-19: Over 500 worker camp inspections by Labour Ministry in Oman

Muscat: Twelve labour accommodations have been closed after more than 500 inspection visits were carried out by the Ministry of Labour to ensure the commitment of private sector establishments towards implementing precautionary measures to limit the spread of the virus among its workers between March 23 and October 30, 2020.

According to the ministry, 63 establishments were found to have violated established procedures and one facility was referred to the Public Prosecution.

The ministry said, “The inspection visits of the epidemiological investigation team to the establishments and institutions of the private sector between March 23 and October 30, amounted to 516. They revealed the commitment of 140 establishments to the implementation of the precautionary measures imposed by the Supreme Committee.”

“The team also closed 12 labour accommodation and re-inspection visits have been done to ensure that these establishments adhere to the precautionary measures, and opened them after ensuring their compliance,” the ministry added.

The epidemiological investigation team for private sector establishments and institutions was formed according to the directives of the Supreme Committee to ensure the commitment of private sector establishments to implement precautionary measures to protect their workers from the risk of infection.

Salem Al Badi, Director General of Labour Welfare at the Ministry of Labour, said, “The team, in cooperation with the Royal Oman Police, monitored the implementation of the facilities in the transport and communications sector of precautionary measures to prevent the epidemic. It also ensured that the facilities were committed to setting up a mechanism to regulate the daily routes of workers from housing to workplaces and to ensure that the means of transport meet the specified capacity of passengers, taking into account the existence of safe distance among them and monitoring violators.”

During March 23 to May 31, 2020, Safety and Health Department received 173 reports for failure to apply precautionary measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, through the electronic system of complaints and reports, precautionary team, and the ministry’s hotline, where 50 written warnings have been released to the establishments, five of them transferred to the competent authorities to consider their violation, and 42 of these establishments were given a grace period to correct their conditions, while the number of establishments abiding by the procedures reached 76 establishments.

Al Badi confirmed, “The epidemiological investigation team, in cooperation with the General Directorate of Private Health Institutions, issued a guidelines on the measures that must be followed by companies and sponsors to prevent and limit the spread of COVID-19 among the workers at work sites and their residences.”

The guide included the measures to be followed at work sites and in the workers housing and preventive surveillance procedures on it, in addition to the steps to be followed in the event that there are employees suspected of being infected and the legal responsibility entailed therein, and a number of awareness-raising publications for ways to prevent infection.

Ministerial decisions No. (167/2020) and No. (186/2020) regarding controls Dealing with violators of the decisions of the Supreme Committee  is limited to financial fines with a maximum of OMR500 in case of the absence of a special record for registering the names of workers suspected of being infected with the virus, followed by a violation of OMR300 in the absence of an internal emergency plan to limit the spread of the Coronavirus, while the minimum fine specified by the decision reached OMR100 for 13 violations.

The Director General of Labour Welfare stated, “At the end of June 2020, the Ministry created an electronic system for inspection to facilitate the mechanism of monitoring the implementation of the aforementioned ministerial decisions and to record data of violation by non-compliant establishments electronically. The specialists are in charge of controlling the acts committed by the private sector establishments in violation of the decisions issued by the committee and the ministerial decisions referred to, and they will take the necessary measures in this regard, and write a report of the violation committed.”