- Independent committee investigating allegation
- "Saddened" to see employees stigmatised
- "Short-term reputational damage" to company
Brandix Group Finance Director Hasitha Premaratne[/caption]
In the company’s first media interview after the crisis erupted, Brandix Group Finance Director Hasitha Premaratne spoke exclusively to The Sunday Morning Business on Thursday (29) about the allegations levelled against the company, its impact on Brandix and its employees, and the source and causes of the outbreak.
What follows are excerpts of the interview.
How has this new Covid-19 wave, which is believed to have originated from Brandix, affected your operations and output?
Whilst the source of the wave is being determined by the relevant authorities, the affiliation to Brandix is that an associate of our Minuwangoda factory was unfortunately the first to be detected as Covid-19 positive.
We have six factories in the Gampaha District, across which we had temporarily halted production since 5 October 2020, due to curfew being implemented across these areas following the detection of the first Covid-19 employee at our factory in Minuwangoda. Minuwangoda still remains closed, whilst we have gradually recommenced operations at the other five factories from mid-October, however at a reduced capacity.
Whilst it is clear that there is an impact to our production as a result, our teams are working diligently to reschedule the impacted orders and ensure minimal disruption for our customers. We continue to remain extremely grateful to our customers for their understanding and extensive co-operation throughout this period as well.
Has it caused any long-term reputational damage to your company?
In the short term, there has been reputational damage caused to our company by this incident. However, we have been continuously in touch with our key stakeholders, i.e. our employees, customers, suppliers, and government authorities, to name a few, and we have ensured to keep them informed of the most recent developments in order to be fully transparent. We are encouraged by the responses and support we have had thus far from these stakeholders.
What kind of psychological impact has it had on your employees and how has it affected their output? How has the company supported employees through this crisis, both psychologically and financially?
We reiterate that the wellbeing of our team members is, and has always been, our topmost priority.
We are saddened to see our employees going through challenges as a result of the treatment received from the public during this time. This includes instances where employees travelling to work in factory buses were stoned, denied access to public transport, and were delayed entry to hospitals to receive medical care, to name a few.
As an organisation, we are doing our utmost to support our affected employees and families, as well as our total employee population at Brandix that is affected by this situation. Since the Covid-19 outbreak at our facility in Minuwangoda, we have engaged in extensive efforts to support the recovery of those affected and have been working closely with the hospitals to support with the additional infrastructure requirements to meet the needs of our affected employees and others.
A former facility of Brandix in Pinnawala was converted to a quarantine centre with 300 beds, and under the management of the Sri Lanka Army, accommodated our employees and family members throughout the quarantine process. We are also continuing to operate a quarantine centre provided by us in Punani, Batticaloa during the Covid-19 outbreak earlier on in the year.
Along with this, a dedicated 24-hour call centre was set up to ensure constant connectivity with our affected team members and their families in order to facilitate all their needs and provide a comfortable and safe stay at their assigned hospitals or quarantine centres. Our team will continue to work round the clock for a smooth operation in the discharge of our team members and close contacts from hospitals and quarantine centres to ensure their safe return home.
Additionally, setting up a support network and continuing our efforts to ensure the mental wellbeing of our employees, supporting children affected by the outbreak to sit for their exams and complete their education, and providing aftercare for our team members and their families upon their return home have been top priorities.
We are grateful to note that we have been able to attend to and resolve many issues through our call centre team and counsellors.
Has Brandix as a company felt let down by the outrage of the public and the reaction of the Government, considering the heaps of foreign exchange you have brought in over the years?
With the outbreak of this second wave, we understand that the public’s reaction is natural and may have stemmed from the uncertainty of the impending consequences on their lives. It was truly unfortunate, and we are conducting an internal investigation to understand what has gone wrong and to take immediate action to ensure future containment of the spread of this disease. We also continue to fully support the Government with their investigation and continue to remain grateful to them, the security forces, the health authorities, and various other government agencies including the BOI (Board of Investment) for the support extended to our employees, their families, and the community during this time of crisis.
The Government is yet to determine who ‘patient zero’ of the Minuwagoda cluster was. Does Brandix have any idea as to how one of its employees contracted the virus?
We have seen media reports on this topic. Brandix has strict health and safety protocols in place, in line with the regulatory authorities of Sri Lanka, including a protocol for the prevention and control of Covid-19 across all our 27 facilities islandwide. We are extending our fullest support to the authorities that are investigating this matter and will await their findings in this regard. As mentioned before, we are additionally conducting an independent investigation to understand any lapses on our part in following the standards mentioned and will share these findings and take the necessary action in the event of violation. The emphasis at all our plants has been and will continue to be, strict adherence to the protocol.
Brandix has maintained that all employees who were flown in from India between June and September underwent PCR testing, 14-day quarantine, as well as a 14-day self-quarantine process. In that case, is it possible that the virus was contracted by an employee in India and went undetected throughout this entire health protocol?
A total of 341 employees and members of families travelled from our facility in Visakhapatnam, India to Sri Lanka on three separate chartered flights on 25 June, 8 August, and 22 September 2020. All of these passengers are Sri Lankans. We can confirm that all the passengers followed the Sri Lankan Government’s protocol for the prevention and control of Covid-19, which includes PCR testing and a 14-day mandatory quarantine at a government-regulated quarantine facility, as well as the 14-day self-quarantine process done under the supervision of the respective PHIs (public health inspectors).
Upon completion of the 14-day mandatory period at a government-regulated quarantine facility, a certification signed by the Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of Covid-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) and the Director General of Health Services has been issued to each individual confirming the same.
Upon undergoing the 14-day self-quarantine process under the supervision of the respective PHIs, a certificate confirming the completion of the self-quarantine process was issued to each passenger by the Office of the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) for the respective area, which is signed off by the respective PHI and MOH. The certificates regarding all passengers have been produced for verification to the government authorities investigating the matter.
We also confirm that none of these employees and the family members visited our Minuwangoda factory.
Do you believe it was prudent to bring down employees from India when India was among the countries worst affected by Covid-19 in the world?
Since the outbreak in mid-March, the Sri Lankan Government has repatriated over 45,000 Sri Lankans from across the world including India. Of this, only 341 Sri Lankans have been brought down by Brandix, in accordance with the stipulated regulations and requirements of the relevant government authorities.
We have nearly 500 people including employees and their families living in Visakhapatnam. There are children, senior citizens, and individuals with medical conditions, i.e. heart conditions and kidney failure. We also had many of our employees who had been working in Visakhapatnam for over six to nine months and had not been able to return to Sri Lanka for the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in April.
With the Covid spread in India worsening, by June 2020, we received many requests from employees and their loved ones in Sri Lanka to make necessary arrangements for their return. We were considerate to the concerns expressed, and addressed the matter with the relevant government authorities on humanitarian grounds to bring back our employees and their families, in complete adherence to all relevant government protocols. We gladly bore the expenses related to their air travel and accommodation, grateful that we were able to ensure their safe return.
There are allegations that employees were forced to continue working despite reporting increased body temperature. Is this true?
All our factories have medical centres, outsourced to a reputed private medical company. The medical centre is manned by two qualified nurses at all times. We also have a qualified doctor who visits the medical centre for one hour daily from Monday-Friday. While there is no legal requirement to have a qualified doctor at the medical centre, we have taken the necessary steps to provide this facility to our employees as a service, free of charge.
Our initial assessment indicates that those who have been reported as having fever as per the medical centre records have been sent home or taken by our staff to hospitals in a timely manner. We have appointed a high-level three-member independent committee to investigate the allegations levelled in the media. Upon completion of the investigation, we will take appropriate action as per its findings.
While we are keen to see a speedy conclusion to the investigation, its progress has been impacted due to most employees still being in hospitals or quarantine centres. Furthermore, the factory was sealed till 26 October by the health authorities, hence the Labour Committee has not been able to do a physical inspection yet.
Has there been a cover up of the origin of this cluster by Brandix using political connections?
We categorically deny these baseless allegations.
We have proven with facts as to how the three flights that repatriated our Sri Lankan expats working in India were in strict adherence to government protocols. We have worked closely with all government agencies and have assisted them in every possible way in this regard, including co-operating fully with the investigations carried out by the Labour Ministry and the Police in a very transparent manner.
As a leader in apparel with a global workforce of over 60,000 people, of which 35,000 people are from Sri Lanka, we hold deep roots in the economy of this country through foreign revenue generation to employment generation, as signified by us being declared the “Exporter of the Year” by the Export Development Board (EDB). We have continuously engaged with our communities and our people to provide inspired solutions for significant societal needs, thus empowering sustainable development in the communities we operate. Our company and our people strive to live by our values of respect, integrity, teamwork, and excellence every day, and hence would not engage in any activities deemed a violation in this regard.
In hindsight, what could Brandix have done differently to avert this crisis altogether?
As an organisation that drives a learning culture and believes in unlearning and re-learning for long-term growth, we are always ready to improve our processes based on every new development. To put things into context, years before this crisis, we had set up a dedicated administration unit headed by a senior executive with specific focus on occupational health and safety. Further, as an organisation that works with global brands, we have always benchmarked our practices against the latest international best practices as well.
With the initial outbreak that occurred in March 2020 in Sri Lanka, we worked closely with the Health Ministry, the MOH offices, and the respective PHIs to put together a comprehensive Covid-19 prevention protocol in place. Since then, we have been following these protocols under the periodic supervision of the respective PHIs.
Some of these measures include:
- Conducting periodic detailed pre-screening to identify risky individuals
- Providing dedicated transport from home to factory thereby avoiding public contact
- Temperature checks when getting into the transport vehicles
- Temperature checks using thermal cameras at the entry to each factory
- One metre social distancing
- Wearing masks
- Midd-day temperature check
- Regular sanitisation of common areas such as toilets, reception desks, lobbies, and cafeterias