COVID-19: Measures issued to ensure worker safety in Duqm

Muscat: To stop the spread of infection of COVID-19 and generate awareness among people in Duqm, the Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm (Sezad), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, has issued instructions that need to be followed by everyone in the city and the surrounding areas.

Employees are requested not to leave their accommodation unless required and must wear masks in public. Sezad will also regularly transmit awareness and advice in multiple languages so that these messages have a maximum impact.

Sezad also plans on “reducing the number of passengers in buses by half, and density of gatherings in dining halls by organising dining times or delivering food to the rooms. Taking into consideration the workers’ accommodation requirement, as per the health requirements issued by Sezad, hygiene, sufficient ventilation and inspection of the rooms daily shall be conducted to measure workers’ temperatures and monitor their health condition.”

The authority added that they would be “providing masks and hand sanitisers to workers at their workplaces and accommodations, as well as implementing daily external examinations of workers, before boarding the bus and heading for work. Any worker with symptoms or a high temperature shall be prevented from boarding the bus.”

Workers operating outside Duqm are not to be brought in unless written approval is obtained from Sezad's HSE department. This is subject to submitting a written request including details of the workers and the place from where they are coming, taking into account compliance with the instructions set by Sezad when issuing approval.

Conditions for approval include providing areas for institutional isolation of the workers by the company that requires these workers, who must submit themselves for isolation before commencing work in Duqm. Applications must be sent to hse@duqm.gov.om

“Workers suspected of being infected or who’ve been in contact with an infected case shall be immediately directed to Duqm Hospital, and the health monitoring team in Duqm shall be contacted,” added Sezad. These teams can be called on 92043535, or 98879416.

“Any project in which an infected case is reported shall provide the required data to the health monitoring team by identifying all those who were in contact with the infected person – whether at the workplace or in the accommodation – and share their details,” said the special economic zone authority.

Everyone in Duqm is expected to strictly comply with the requirements of health isolation issued by the Ministry of Health for those who’ve been identified to be in contact with an infected person. Such persons must be placed in isolation in a room with an attached toilet and must be served from outside the room. Isolation must take place in designated areas.

Violators of these rules, which follow the decisions issued by the Supreme Committee, will be punished according to the laws of the Royal Oman Police.