BPOs VS. COVID. Representatives of call center companies meet with Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas last July 31 to discuss their preparations vs the Covid-19 pandemic. As of Friday (Aug. 7, 2020), eight call center agents have been tested positive of the disease. (Photo by Arnold Almacen/CMO)
ILOILO CITY – Call center firms operating in Iloilo are equipped with health protocols to ensure the safety of their workers amid this coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Joeven Tansi, executive director of the Iloilo Federation for Information Technology (I-FIT), told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a phone interview Friday that they have long been preparing for the disease.
Tansi said that strict health and safety procedures are implemented starting from the entrance of the building where the call center is located. He said they understood that no matter how they prepare, there is a possibility that their sector will get affected.
All persons who intend to enter their building have to undergo thermal scanning first. Their elevator can only load 50 percent of their capacity to make sure that the safe physical distancing is observed.
“Every hour, disinfection is conducted on surface areas, including the elevator,” he added.
They have to pass through another thermal scanning before they enter the work area. Each employee is required to disinfect their own cubicle before and after leaving the work area.
“We follow WHO (World Health Organization) standard in the implementation of health protocols,” he said.
Any employee manifesting signs and symptoms will be referred to their clinic for appropriate intervention.
As of Friday, Tansi said eight call center agents have been tested positive for the disease while three more are waiting for the result of their reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
While the city government is doing contact tracing, the affected firm also undertakes similar action to fast-track the identification of those who are possibly exposed to the confirmed case, he said.
“The official contact tracing is with the city government. Ours is a precautionary contact tracing so that those with primary exposure will be immediately isolated,” he said.
Those isolated may either undergo home quarantine but if they stay in boarding houses, the plan is to house them in hotels that can accommodate them temporarily, he added.
Meanwhile, the city government on Thursday has issued a reminder amid reports of discrimination of call center agents. Some have been evicted from their boarding houses, Tansi said.
“I want to make it clear that discrimination of all forms have no place in Iloilo City. We should fight the virus as the enemy, not the people already adversely affected by the pandemic,” said Mayor Jerry P. Treñas.
He said that the City Legal Office will be filing charges against those found violating this city’s Anti-Discrimination Ordinance. (PNA)
