The Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE)-10 has announced it will use quick response (QR) codes in the online accomplishment of the Health Symptoms Questionnaire/Health Checklist for all personnel.
According to a press release, the move is in compliance with the Interim Guidelines on Workplace Prevention and Control of COVID-19.
The QR code can be quickly read by a mobile phone and gathers pieces of information relevant to determining COVID-19 signals of asymptomatic or symptomatic individuals entering DOLE-10 premises.
It supports the safety and health protocols of workers under the new normal work settings.
The said guidelines signed by Trade Secretary, Ramon Lopez, and the Labour Secretary, Silvestre H. Bello III, mandates the involvement and cooperation of workers and employers in complying with the precautionary measures to comply with basic health and safety protocols to prevent and contain the virus.
The measures include:
- The installation of signages at the entrance of the workplace/establishment and signages inside the workplaces.
- Filling-up of the daily health symptoms questionnaire for employees, employers, and clients or visitors.
- A thermal check for everyone at the entrance of the building, which is inputted daily for the monitoring and tracing of symptomatic/asymptomatic clients, workers, and employers, as the case may be.
An official disclosed that online registration of health information started on 13 July, which is intended for all DOLE-10 employees. As simple as clicking the link or scanning the QR code provided, the employee will be immediately connected to the online format in seconds.
The information provided by the user is automatically generated for the real-time assessment of health and health-related conditions of everyone entering the workplace.
This innovation quickly addresses the need for a faster process cycle time in assessing and monitoring the results for quick detection and institute control on the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.
The QR code registration of health information initially covers all employees of the DOLE-10 regional office and all provincial/field offices in Northern Mindanao of the Department. It may be required from all visitors and clients of all DOLE-10 offices in the region, eventually.
Other parts of the country are focusing on technologies to monitor, reduce, and prevent the spread of the virus. A popular method is contact tracing. About 100 health workers and police in Central Luzon attended a one-day training on contact tracing.
Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, who serves as the National Task Force Against COVID-19 Tracing czar, said it is better to have many contact tracing teams because there are cases when first-level contacts of positive cases can reach as high as a hundred people.
Its contact tracing e-system, a partnership between health workers and law enforcement officers, is considered to be one of the best practices of local government units in containing the spread of the virus.
The government has also initiated Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs). As part of Philippine’s efforts to strengthen the country’s contact tracing capability under the Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate Strategy of the National Action Plan against COVID-19 Phase II.
It aims to balance the health and safety of the public and the economic recovery of the nation.
