Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

New programme rolled out at migrant worker dorms to educate staff, residents on infection prevention

SINGAPORE — A new programme is being rolled out at migrant worker dormitories across Singapore to teach operators, staff and residents about what they need to do to prevent infections from spreading.

During the five-week programme, dorm operators, staff and residents will be taught good infection prevention and control practices, such as how to wash their hands or wear a mask properly, via online quizzes and self-directed learning and assessment tools.

During the five-week programme, dorm operators, staff and residents will be taught good infection prevention and control practices, such as how to wash their hands or wear a mask properly, via online quizzes and self-directed learning and assessment tools.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — A new programme is being rolled out at migrant worker dormitories across Singapore to teach operators, staff and residents about what they need to do to prevent infections from spreading.

The programme was developed by the Assurance, Care and Engagement Group, a division of the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), and the Ministry of Health.

During the five-week programme, dorm operators, staff and residents will be taught good infection prevention and control practices, such as how to wash their hands or wear a mask properly, via online quizzes and self-directed learning and assessment tools.

The authorities consulted infectious diseases experts in developing the programme, after observing migrant workers in several dormitories and interviewing them on their personal hygiene and social behaviours.

For example, an MOM spokesperson said they observed that when it comes to mask-wearing, some dorm operators, staff and migrant workers only cover their mouths and not their noses as they find it more comfortable. 

Under the programme, dorm operators and staff can learn about infection prevention and control via online training materials and they will be given checklists to conduct regular self-assessments. They will also be given guides and posters illustrating best practices that they can place around the dorms.

Meanwhile, migrant workers will first take part in a pre-training quiz to test their baseline understanding of infection prevention on the FWMOMCareApp — an app used primarily to monitor migrant workers' health status.

Employers and dorm operators have been told to encourage the migrant workers to take the quiz and 3,000 responses have been logged since its inception.

Educational materials will then be rolled out to the workers, including a series of educational videos, webinars, infographics, posters and quizzes in four languages including English, Chinese, Tamil and Bengali.

They can then take a post-training quiz to test what they have learnt.

Forward Assurance and Support Teams (Fast) officers will then conduct regular audits of dormitories to see how compliant their residents are with the infection prevention and control measures, MOM said. 

The first audit will be carried out after the programme is completed and audits will be conducted on large dormitories with 500 or more residents at least once a week. For remaining dorms, the audits will be conducted during routine inspections.

They will monitor the dorms to ensure workers know about hand hygiene, use of hand sanitisers, hand soaps, hand washing before meals, mask use, safe distancing and health awareness, like knowing now to report sick when unwell, and daily health monitoring on the FWMOMCareApp.

More than 100 volunteers from the Singapore Healthcare Corps, of which 40 are nurses, will also participate in this effort.

Mr Jahangir Alam, 42, who is a resident at Kranji Lodge 1 dormitory, told TODAY that the leaflets that have been given out have been particularly helpful.

The leaflets include hygiene and safe distancing reminders such as keeping 1m from others, no gatherings in common areas of more than five and no mingling.

“Everyone already does follow the rules but it is important to remind us that we must follow the rules so everyone can be protected,” said Mr Jahangir, who is from Bangladesh. “Covid-19 is a pandemic and has been a big issue in the dorms, so we must keep doing what we can and learning how to stay well and healthy,” he said.

Indian national Mr Kuttiyandi Dinesh, 27, who stays in Westlite Toh Guan Dormitory, said: “Reminding us is good because there are times when some people might forget to wear masks. So when they see the posters on the noticeboard it helps them to remember and ensure our safety so I think it is a good effort.”

The MOM spokesperson said the programme for migrant workers was implemented in early October.

The pre-training quiz was rolled out from Oct 4 to 16, and the education segment from Oct 19. The post-training quiz will begin in early November so as to provide some time for workers to access the educational materials.

Related topics

ACE MOH Covid-19 Migrant Workers dormitories

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.