SELF RISK-ASSESSMENT IN LIGHT OF COVID-19 IN HCMC

LEGAL UPDATE

The People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) has issued Official Letter No. 1249/UBND-VX (OL 1249) providing that all enterprises and manufacturers currently operating in HCMC are requested to conduct an assessment on the level of potential COVID-19 infection risk at the workplace.

The assessment report must be submitted to the competent authorities (as specified below) today, 8 April 2020 which is very likely to be extended given the fact that OL 1249 was released to the general public yesterday, 7 April 2020. These requirements also apply to enterprises and manufacturers in export processing zones, industrial zones or high-tech zones within HCMC.

1. What Needs to be Assessed?

The risk assessment is based on 10 criteria as set out below which are employed to determine the level of infection risks as included in Official Letter No. 1203/QD-BCD (OL 1203):

a. How many people work at the workplace?

b. What is the people’s density at the workplace (how many persons per 1m²)?

c. Whether employees are equipped with hand sanitiser gel and/or disinfection spray is provided at the workplace?

d. What is the number of employees wearing masks at the workplace?

e. What is the number of employees whose temperature is checked before entering the workplace?

f. What is the distance among employees at the enterprise / factory cafeterias?

g. What is the number of employees transported by a company vehicle (is this limited)?

h. What is the number of residence places where the employees are transported to or from by a company vehicle?

i. What is the percentage of employees to whom facemasks are provided at the workplace?

j. What is the number of night shifts in the enterprise/factory?

2. How is the Final Risk Calculated?

For each criterion set out in Section 1 before, points will be awarded depending on the answer given. For example, for the number of people at the workplace as set out under a., 5 categories exist, and points from 1 to 10 are given, depending on the answer. For other topics there are only 2 categories, yes or no, with 1 and 10 points. However, note that the number of categories varies for each topic as do the number of points applied. The final risk is calculated by adding up the points given to each topic of the list set out divided by 100.

3. Competent Authority

The results need to be sent to the management board of export processing zones, industrial zones or high-tech zones, or the district-level People’s Committee where the enterprise or the manufacturer is registered.

4. Suspension of Operation or Not?

OL 1203 also sets out the consequences for certain scores. If, for example, the final risk rate ranges from 80‑100 points the workplace shall be deemed a workplace with a significantly high risk for viral infection. This means that the enterprise or the manufacturer has to close office(s) / plant(s) and let people work from home if possible or temporarily suspend its operation in Vietnam to avoid physical contact among employees. This measure is understood to be applied during the social distancing window (from 1 to 15 April 2020, but is likely to be extended until 30 April 2020) under Directive 15 and Directive 16 of the Prime Minister.

5. Deadline

The deadline to submit the results of this risk-assessment is 8 April 2020, however, the document is dated 6 April 2020 and was apparently only published yesterday. There are indications that the deadline to submit the results will be extended to 10-14 April 2020.

Contact Information

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our lawyers at the below email addresses and contact numbers.

Mark Oakley / Managing Partner

mark.oakley@acsvlegal.com

+84 (0) 8 6810 0510

Minh Nguyen / Senior Associate & Head of Dispute Resolution Practice

minh.nguyen@acsvlegal.com

+84 (0) 7 7865 3936

© 2020 ACS Legal Vietnam Company Limited – All rights reserved

This legal update is not an advice and should not be treated as such.

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