1 April 2020

STEPPING UP SAFE DISTANCING MEASURES AT CONSTRUCTION SITES

Dear SCAL members,

On 30 March, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced a new cluster of four confirmed
COVID-19 cases at S11 Dormitory @ Punggol. Contact tracing for this cluster has completed
and close contacts have been quarantined. Another cluster has also been announced on 31
March at Westlite Toh Guan dormitory and contact tracing is in progress.

Additional precautionary measures are put in place by affected Dormitories

2. Both dormitory operators have disinfected the premises based on NEA’s guidelines
and has stepped up the cleaning of common areas. As an added precaution, the dormitory
operators have put in place further measures such as:

i. Monitor the health status of residents staying in the affected blocks before
entering or leaving the dormitory;
ii. Limiting movement among residents within the dormitory;
iii. Closure of all non-essential common areas in the dormitory such as gym,
prayer room and movie areas; and
iv. Stepped up measures to ensure safe distancing measure are in place in other
common areas such as the mini-mart, clinic, block kitchen and canteen.

The dormitory operators have been advised to notify MOH immediately if any resident in the
affected blocks has fever or respiratory symptoms (e.g. cough, runny nose, sore throat or
breathlessness). Symptomatic residents are not allowed to leave the dormitory or be allowed
to go to work; they will be referred for medical assessment.

Employers should implement safe distancing measures rigorously

3. Dormitory residents who are not quarantined can continue with their daily activities,
including work. There is no need to prevent these workers who are residing in the same
dormitory from working if they are well.

4 Notwithstanding, employers are reminded to put in place health screening measures

at the workplace and rigorously implement the safe distancing measures at the workplaces to
further mitigate the risks. These measures include:

a. Reduce need for and duration of physical interactions;

b. Ensure clear physical spacing of at least 1m apart;
c. Stagger working hours; and
d. Defer or cancel all events; Social gatherings at construction sites should be kept
to no more than 10 persons at any one time.
Details of the measures can be found in the MOM advisory (https://www.mom.gov.sg/covid-
19/advisory-on-safe-distancing-measures).

5 Employers should regularly remind workers to practice safe distancing. Specifically,

workers should be reminded to:

a. Stay in their rooms as much as possible during their off days/hours;

b. If they have important errands to run, keep it short;
c. Minimize physical social contact with fellow workers; and
d. Keep at least 1m apart from others.

5 Contractors and employers should also remind workers to practise social responsibility
by observing good personal hygiene, monitoring their own health conditions and staying at
home if unwell.

6 Employers are strongly discouraged from relocating their workers residing in the
affected dormitory out.

Yours sincerely,
Ministry of Manpower