Employers are advised to follow the 11 steps in the hierarchy of control at their respective workplaces. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR,  Jan 26  — The Malaysian Society for Occupational Safety and Health (MSOSH) has call on all public and private organisations to implement an emergency action plan at work to address the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.

Its president, Khairuddin Hairan, in a statement today, suggested the employers to implement the 11 steps in the hierarchy of control at their respective workplace to support measures taken by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to prevent the spread of the virus in the country.

One of the steps, he said,  was to carry out health risk assessment on  workers and to report immediately to MOH if there was an infection.

He said employers should screen workers and visitors and to ask those who are found not healthy to seek medical treatment before allowing them into the workplace.

"Employers also need to ensure health declaration is implemented before entering the workplace , especially for employees and visitors, practice good cough etiquette, such as wearing face or surgical mask in case of those having cough and flu.

"Contact surfaces should also be cleaned using bleach and water, especially door knobs, elevator buttons, stair balusters, etc handhelds and so on, as well as put up posters on coronavirus to make employees more aware of the virus,” he added.

Khairuddin said employees who are given sick or meeical leave should stay home and avoidn going to public places, such as night market, shopping mall, entertainment center and playground.

Employers are also encouraged to provide hand sanitizer which contained more than 70 percent alcohol to their employees, he added. — Bernama