Maintaining the “green zone” status is considered a key factor for businesses to keep stable production and business activities stable amid unpredictable developments of COVID-19.

Enterprises are trying to maintain the “green zone” to create favorable conditions for the promotion of production and business activities. Production activities are observed at the Apple Film Co., Ltd (Hoa Cam Industrial Park, Cam Le District. Photo: KHANH HOA

Many good ways to stay away COVID-19

The Da Nang Rubber Joint Stock Corporation has till date gained so much experience in well implementing the dual goals of keeping itself out of the COVID-19 attack and boosting production.

Accordingly, in addition to implementing the 5K rules adopted by the Ministry of Health by asking all employees to keep a safe distance with one another, mapping out the schedules of dining shifts and installing partitions between dining tables, the company has set up an inside-the-factory quarantine area capable of holding 60 close COVID-19 contacts in case an active case is detected.

"This quarantine area serves as a miniature hospital, with fully furnished with beds and daily necessities to ensure that close COVID-19 contacts still can maintain their work tasks under the (on-site working, on-site dining, on-site resting) approach and test for COVID-19 every 3 days. With this approach, we hope to be more proactive in maintaining the efficiency of the simultaneous tasks of ensuring production stability and pandemic prevention”, said Mr. Le Hoang Khanh Nhut, General Director of the Da Nang Rubber Joint Stock Company.

In addition to the above-mentioned general solution, this company has also established COVID-19 safety teams which are in charge of monitoring employees’ compliance with COVID-19 preventive rules at workshops. 

Similarly, in order to maintain production activities with a workforce of about 2,000 employees, the Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading Corporation must tighten safety regulations against COVID-19, even levy heavy penalties on workers who fail to comply with the ‘1 route- 2 locations’ approach which means that workers are not allowed to visit other sites on their way to the company from their places of residence and vice versa.

A need to develop a set of criteria to recognize ‘green enterprises’

According to a recent survey conducted by the Da Nang branch of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), despite being heavily affected by the prolonged pandemic, the city's production activities have still recorded many positive bright spots.
In particular, many businesses have made outstanding efforts to maintain production performance and supply chains, in tandem with making proper adjustments to working hours and the rotational work shifts.

Of special note, VCCI Da Nang has proposed a need to release set of criteria for the recognition of “green enterprises” based on such factors as facilities, vaccination against COVID-19 for human resources, the number of employees permanently regimenting in “green zones” where neither community-acquired cases nor locked-down sites have been logged over the past 14 days. This “green enterprises” initiative, if adopted, is expected to create maximum conditions for businesses to operate to their full potential amid the coronavirus wave.

In perspectives made by Mr. Nguyen Tien Quang, Director of VCCI Da Nang, with regard to vaccination, prioritity should be given to offering the second shot of COVID-19 vaccines to the staff of enterprises which play an important role in protecting the supply chain such as those active in logistics and transportation services and staffer carrying out import and export procedures. For FDI enterprises operating in the city, it is necessary to mobilise to build up a mutual support mechanism under which their parent companies headquartered in certain countries where vaccines are manufactured are encouraged to supply vaccine does to them.

Reporting by KHANH HOA – Translating by A.T