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New Infection Prevention And Control Programme To Strengthen Safe Living Measures In Dormitories

Foreign manpower

  1. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) today launched an Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) programme to strengthen the implementation of Safe Living Measures (SLM) in dormitories and reduce the risk of infection transmission. Such measures include the wearing of masks, safe distancing practices, staggered timings for the use of communal facilities and prevention of inter-mixing among dormitory residents. The IPC programme will assign clear responsibilities and provide education and training to dormitory operators and dormitory residents so that they can each play their part. Under the programme, training will also be provided to MOM officers and volunteers to conduct regular audits to ensure compliance with the IPC measures.

  2. The IPC programme was developed by the Assurance, Care and Engagement (ACE) Group under MOM, in partnership with the Ministry of Health. Besides consulting infectious diseases experts, the IPC programme also incorporated the findings of interviews and studies of migrant workers’ personal hygiene and social behaviours. The measures in the IPC programme aim to address the knowledge and behavioural gaps of the workers and dormitory operators. Training and education will be provided to the following three stakeholder groups:

    • Dormitory operators and staff: Training is aimed at helping operators implement good management systems to ensure compliance with IPC measures, and undertake corrective actions promptly if there are lapses. Online training materials and a checklist are provided to dormitory operators and their staff to improve their knowledge of IPC principles and conduct self-assessments.
    • Dormitory residents: Education will be provided to dormitory residents to improve their knowledge and practice of the Safe Living Measures in the IPC. Specially designed educational materials will be made available to migrant workers on the FWMOMCare app. This includes a series of educational videos, webinars, infographics, posters and quizzes in their native languages.

    • Forward Assurance and Support Teams (FAST): MOM officers who are part of the FAST and volunteers supporting them will be trained to conduct regular audits of dormitories to check for compliance with IPC measures. More than 100 volunteers from the Singapore Healthcare Corps, of which 40 are nurses, will partner FAST officers in the audits.
  3. The fight against re-emergence of COVID-19 in the dormitories is a shared responsibility of migrant workers, employers, dormitory operators and the Government. Adherence to SLM and IPC measures is our first line of defence. Together, we can build a safe living environment in the dormitories for our migrant workers.