The Energy department has released a new order as part of the protocols for the power industry sector amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said that the new administrative order will allow industry stakeholders to observe strict protocols especially in attending to emergencies.
“Protecting the occupational health and safety of our employees is central to the unimpeded delivery of energy goods and services. As “backliners” during this pandemic, we must remain healthy to keep providing vital energy to all our frontliners,” Cusi said in a press statement, a copy of which was obtained by the TIMES.
The order, which mandates the Task Force on Energy Resiliency to implement the policy, covers the department, its attached agencies and industry stakeholders. The body is also ordered to ensure that all the protocols are complied by preparing relevant checklists, daily monitoring toolkits, and the establishment of a feedback mechanism.
Based on the order, the framework is based on key interventions that include;
— Prevention – pertains to disease control; or the reduction of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, or mortality to a locally acceptable level, resulting from deliberate efforts and continued intervention measures.
— Detection – pertains to disease surveillance; or the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of outcome-specific data for use in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice.
— Isolation – pertains to the separation of ill or infected persons from others, to prevent the spread of infection or contamination.
— Treatment – medical treatment, or the management and care of a patient for the purpose of combating disease, injury, or disorder. Restriction on activities is not considered treatment, unless the primary purpose of the restriction is to improve a worker’s condition through conservative care.
— Reintegration to the Workforce – allowing employees with clean bills of health to return to the workplace.
— Adapting to the “New Normal” – pertains to the necessary occupational changes that need to be implemented in the medium term, to ensure the unhampered delivery of energy goods and services, while protecting employees in the workplace.
Earlier, the Mindanao Development Authority requested the United States Agency for International Development to help the agency evaluate the impact of the virus on the power industry in Mindanao.
