Chinese companies try to ensure health safety in the workplace
By Xing Ruinan
02:50

As many have returned to work, employers across China are making moves to protect the health of their workers. 

A total of 64 coal mines in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region alone restarted production by Monday. Local authorities asked companies to ensure the health safety of their staff, with isolated production management and flexible work arrangement.

Gao Xiaoming, head of a coal company in Erdos, said his company had laid out strict guidelines for employees in order to effectively contain the spread of the coronavirus. "Our employees are required to wear masks, and can only enter the production area after having their temperature checked."

In Hunan Province, which borders Hubei, a company is offering free tests to its employees, so that those infected can be identified as early as possible.

Guo Shengqiang, director of the board of Ruijie Mechanical Technology located in Ningxiang's high-tech development zone, said the test on nucleic acid is important. "The test reduces the burden on the company, and, on the other hand, which I think is more important, it reassures our employees back at work."

Access to food and clean dining has also been added to the basic requirements of a safe working environment. The company pre-orders boxed lunches and dinners, to lower the possibility of transmission caused by eating together. 

Wang Qunhua, manager of the high-tech firm, said they are quite content with the arrangement. "We didn't have our own canteen so we made an application. Now, we are given meals in boxes. It makes us feel safe, so we can throw ourselves wholeheartedly back to work, without any worries."

Chinese tech giants such as Tencent Holdings, ByteDance, and Alibaba have asked their employees to continue working from home until February 21.