HAVING successfully contained a second outbreak of Covid-19 infections on its premises, PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd is determined to curb the spread of the virus at the workplace to ensure little disruption to business operations.

The outbreak last week, which follows its first incident in October 2020, came after a scare in the first week of January this year, when a staff was tested positive following a family gathering during Christmas.

Its group chief executive and managing director Datuk Michael Tio said that PKT Logistics Group is well positioned and more prepared to deal with the pandemic this time around, due to the safety measures it has put in place late last year.

Ensuring business continuity is key, he stressed, as each day operations are shut down brings losses to the business. This is not forgetting the health and safety of staff who continue to work during the movement control order (MCO) period.

Pointing to the proactive safeguards implemented by PKT Logistics Group, which go beyond the government’s Covid-19 standard operating procedures, Tio said that companies and their employees must strictly abide by physical distancing measures to prevent large scale infection.

“The virus spread is coming from family and friends of staff, so we need to segregate operationally to stop the spread. Every employee must follow strict protocol and play their part to breaking the chain of Covid-19 infections,” he stressed.

Risk mitigation measures

Amongst the group’s implemented measures to reduce infection risk and the spread of infection are strategically zoning office spaces to limit staff movement to certain areas, especially as it owns and operates multiple buildings, including offices and warehouses in the Klang Valley and Penang.

He said, “As we have offices in Selangor and Penang, we try to minimise the staff movement between both states, although it is not completely avoidable. Again, zoning laws are in place, those operating from one warehouse are not allowed to move freely to another office without prior permission from the management.”

It has also implemented a schedule for staff to work from home (WFH), alternating work schedules and staggering break times to reduce the risk of contact between its employees.

Based on its experience, PKT Logistics Group has also made it mandatory for staff members to consume their meals at their own workstations, as gathering and eating together at the pantry poses a major risk and leads to virus spread in the event one employee is positive.

“From our contact tracing, we realised that a main contributor is sharing meals or having meals with colleagues, so for the time being, we have made it mandatory for staff to have their meals at their desk.

“We also implement staggered break times to ensure staff do not congregate together during lunch. Everyone needs to be one metre apart at least. No eating together, or eating facing each other,” he shared. Strategically placed dividers on tables may allow for two people to dine together but such practice is heavily discouraged at this point.

Moreover, all its physical meetings have been moved online to various online conferencing platforms, with meeting rooms and gathering areas in the office closed off to prevent usage.

Another area PKT Logistics Group has identified as a risk is manual paperwork, as these require physical touch, which is why it is moving towards utilising electronic documents for its work processes.

He noted, “High touch items such as documents need to be sanitised with a mist machine that contains steriliser solution.

“For paperwork that don’t require physical signatures, we need to move towards using pdf or online documents.”

Beyond the workplace

Tio further reminded businesses and their employees that these safety measures should also be practiced outside of work to prevent infection, highlighting the basics of always wearing a mask and frequently sanitising hands.

“Be careful when you are outside. When you are buying groceries or packing food for takeaway, you must maintain physical distancing.

“Of utmost importance is the 3W: wash hands, wear masks and warn each other to wear masks,” he reminded.

He also firmly encouraged people to stay at home and not visit other people’s homes, even if they are family members, as the virus is now spreading fast through communities. This reminder is especially sound owing to the upcoming festive season.

He opined, “Covid-19 will be part of our life this year. We need to be fast and efficient to address and manage the issues if a staff is tested positive or is exposed to a positive case.

“No one is to be blamed on who passed the virus to whom. All we can do is our best to prevent the spread and curb the spread outbreak efficiently.”

That said, he remains optimistic that the outlook for 2021 is still robust and attributes the positive forecast to the exponential rise in demand for the movement of goods and services.

This is largely due to countries worldwide implementing lockdowns to combat the pandemic, which has in turn led to the acceleration of e-commerce and technology adoption and acceptance among both businesses and consumers.

“Businesses have had to digitalise at a very fast pace due to Covid-19, so social media marketing becomes very important to reach a larger group of customers,” he said, referencing the way digital platforms commercialise their businesses to earn revenue.

Backed by inbuilt resilience from the circuit breakers implemented since 2008 to focus on recession-proof verticals, as well as its experience during the first MCO, PKT Logistics Group has reaffirmed its commitment to achieve its Wawasan ThreeBees by 2025.

The core of its Covid-19 Transformation Programme, Wawasan ThreeBees sets a target for the group to achieve RM3bil revenue in the next five years, with three supporting visions to serve as a roadmap to help the company achieve this grand vision.

The supporting visions are Wawasan V50 or Vaccine50 to diversify PKT’s revenue contribution ratio to 50:50 between recession-prone and recession-proof segments, Wawasan Asean20 to align PKT towards globalisation with 20% revenue contribution from regional Asean countries and Wawasan Digital20 to increase its digital revenue contribution to 20%.

He concluded, “Malaysians this year are much better prepared for MCO and WFH and how to go about this trying period.

“The movement of goods and services will continue to be in demand, as businesses are now focused and more resourceful to serve customers beyond physical interaction.”

WHEN PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd was first informed that an employee was suspected to be positive for Covid-19 last month, it was the swift and decisive action taken by its leadership that put the business back on track just a few days later.

But that is not the only thing the logistics group got right. It went a step further by going public and being fully transparent in how it dealt with the situation, which went a long way in reassuring its stakeholders.

Having prevented such a crisis, its group chief executive and managing director Datuk Michael Tio believes that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can learn from PKT Logistics Group’s experience to establish proactive safeguards – beyond adherence to the government’s Covid-19 standard operating procedures – to minimise disruptions to business continuity.

He said, “Our experience can serve as an example for industry players to manage their business, in the event that an employee is positive for Covid-19. [Thus] we want to share our experience of curbing the spread of Covid-19 at our office and in turn, help SMEs better prepare themselves.”

Although it shared the same concerns as many other companies that a Covid-19 positive employee would cause large scale infection, in turn causing operations to shut down for 14 days, Tio said that the first move is to keep calm.

“When we first received notice that an employee was diagnosed with Covid-19 when taking a rapid test at a government clinic, we didn’t panic and send everyone home, but quickly activated a Covid-19 crisis team, kept our employees updated to reduce fear and immediately performed temporary rapid tests on all employees on the same day, ” he shared.

Doing so revealed that only one floor of its office had suspected Covid-19 cases, with a total of 14 PKT Logistics Group employees testing positive.

The next day, PKT Logistics Group shut down its offices and warehouses in Shah Alam and conducted mass nasal and oral swab testing on-site for more than 500 employees.

While employees were home awaiting results, it fully disinfected and cleaned its office, warehouse and even its fleet of delivery trucks.

Thanks to these efforts – and working closely with the Health Ministry – it was given the green light for PKT Logistics Group to reopen its operations less than a week later.

That said, Tio stressed that the group encourages its employees to work from home as much as possible to reduce related risks.

Taking extra precautions

Aside from the routine procedures, the crisis team also implemented extra safety measures to prevent any recurrence.

PKT Logistics Group chief operating officer Jason Cheah said that in addition to adherence to SOPs, antimicrobial copper films were installed at high touch-point areas such as elevator buttons and door handles, so employees could feel safer coming back to work.

Improvised spray paint guns were purchased and filled with disinfectant spray for employee use before they start work.

It also moved some of its IT equipment off-site as part of its business continuity plan, in order to ensure that the group’s operations can be supported in case of on-premise disruptions.

Most importantly, Cheah said it was key to segment work areas by zone, of which PKT Logistics Group split into five zones.

“People working in each zone limit their movement within that area, in order to avoid contact between the areas as much as possible, ” he said.

This was because when an internal investigation was done by PKT Logistics Group’s chief marketing officer Kuan Eu Jin at the epicentre of its Covid-19 infections, one of the causes was traced back to shared food and utensils, which was why it temporarily closed its cafeteria.

“For those who had to be in the office, we advised them to bring their own utensils and eat at their own cubicles, ” he said, adding that the group provides packed food for its employees.

PETALING JAYA: After being closed for five days for sanitisation and implementation of safety measures, PKT Logistics’ Shah Alam office will reopen on Monday (Oct 19).

“After taking swift action to perform a nasal and oral swab test on every employee, we found that the spread of positive Covid-19 cases was confined to certain levels.

“The decision to reopen was done after consulting the Health Ministry and ensuring all precautionary and safety measures were put in place”, the management said Saturday (Oct 17).

When one of its staff tested positive for Covid 19 on Oct 13, the PKT Crisis Management team said it took action the next day to conduct swab tests on all employees, as well as to carry out double disinfection for the office buildings and contact tracing.

They also introduced stricter standard operating procedures (SOPs).

“All common areas such as pantries, gymnasium, canteen and meeting rooms will be closed until further notice.

“Employees will also be required to bring and use their own set of utensils. All of our entry checkpoints will be upgraded to a higher standard screening process, ” the management said.

Extra precautionary steps had been implemented, including the installation of antimicrobial copper films at all frequent contact points such as lift buttons and door handles, it said.

The decision to reopen was done after consulting the Health Ministry and ensuring all precautionary and safety measures were in place, it added.

 

 

PETALING JAYA: PKT Logistics Sdn Bhd has shut down its Shah Alam offices and warehouses on Wednesday after one employee was tested positive for Covid-19 a day earlier.

In a statement, the company said it took swift and proactive action to control and manage the situation.

“We performed an immediate rapid test on all our employees on Oct 13 afternoon. We shut down our Shah Alam offices and warehouses on Oct 14.

“We performed a thorough sanitisation of the offices and warehouses on Oct 14 morning itself,” it said, adding that it performed nasal and oral swab tests on all its employees who were working on Oct 14.

After test results were received, PKT Logistics ascertained that the infection was confined to a single level at its Lighthouse office and all employees in the building were told to work from home for 14 days.

Due to this, the company said it would resume operations at a reduced capacity today.

“Rest assured that we will be implementing stricter SOPs including segregation and isolation individual work areas,” it said.

 

Welcome back to work! We are delighted to see you after months of working from home.

Do not fear. We at PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd have taken necessary measures to ensure that your presence at the office is one that is comfortable and sanitary.

Aside from abiding with PKT’s 3-Corona-Must, we have implemented various measures to reduce the spread of germs and viruses in our offices.

It is now a Must for everyone coming through our doors to wear a face mask at all times. Those without a face mask can obtain one from our lovely Front Desk Ambassadors.

Hand sanitisers are placed across various locations of our offices so that hands are sanitised before entering any offices or floors.

Did you know that high-touch surfaces such as door handles and lift buttons harbour various germs? That’s why we have installed a layer of antimicrobial copper coating at all high-touch surfaces such as lift buttons and door handles.

We highly recommend everyone to avoid touching these surfaces and instead, use a pen, key or their name tags to press lift buttons.

PKT’s team of hygiene specialists will also sanitise other high-touch surfaces in the office frequently throughout the day.

In addition, only four people are allowed to be in the lift at all times. They too must try to adhere to social distancing norms by each taking one corner inside the lift.

For those queueing for the lift, they too must stand 1 meter apart.

Moreover, we recognise the need for our staff to continue having their meals at our Lighthouse Bistro.

Our tables have been configured to adhere to social distancing norms of being 1 meter apart. We have also installed clear dividers on dining tables in The Lighthouse Bistro to allow diners to have meals together on the same table.

Don’t worry. Our meals are still lovingly prepared by our kitchen crew who are suited up with personal protective equipment (PPE) so every bite is a safe bite.

We hope our efforts can help to not only flatten the curve but also provide peace of mind to our staff members returning to the office.

Stay safe and Selamatkan Malaysia.

Together we stand, divided we fall.

As members of our communities, we all have a part to play in safeguarding the interests of our nation against Covid-19. PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd, a socially responsible company, has been actively doing our part to assist during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, beyond our normal operations.

On March 28, 2020, PKT deployed one of its prime mover and side loader to assist the Malaysia Genome Institute (MGI) in transporting their Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) laboratory from Bangi to Hospital Sungai Buloh.

The BSL3 laboratory is a mobile laboratory that enables research and tests on microbes that may cause serious or potentially lethal diseases through inhalation.

The laboratory is the first of its kind in Malaysia and Southeast Asia used to assist in the fight against Covid-19.

Our efforts continued by extending a helping hand to the state governments.

PKT Logistics Group donated RM100,000 to the Selangor Tabung Covid-19 fund. The fund aims to provide financial and material assistance to those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in Selangor.

In the North, PKT Logistics Group also donated RM100,000 to the Penang COVID-19 Fund.

The funds collected by the Penang state government will be channeled to assist segments of society that need financial assistance during the MCO.

At PKT Logistics Group, our efforts in combating Covid-19 does not stop there.

We also do our part by observing Covid-19 workplace guidelines set by the Ministry of Health such as work distancing, screening of temperatures at the entrance and frequent disinfection of touch points.

By providing a safe environment for our team to work, we can continue to serve our customers and the nation without disruption, during such trying times.

Communication is essential in any organisation as a constant stream of accurate information and positive messages help reduce anxiety and panic among staff members during uncertain times.

This is reflected in our Group Chief Executive and Managing Director, Dato’ Michael Tio’s regular Facebook Live sessions where he continuously shares the latest updates and decisions by the management to all employees. This helps our PKT employees keep calm while he guides us through these trying times.

Upon the announcement of the MCO in March 2020, Dato’ Michael addressed PKT staff members through Facebook Live on PKT’s private Facebook Group on 17 March 2020. During the session, he outlined measures taken by the company to comply with the MCO requirements.

As PKT Logistics Group is classified under the transportation sector (listed as an essential service), our operational teams continued working to support customers who were providing essential services. PKT’s non-essential employees continue to support our customers from home where we are reachable by phone and email to attend to our customer’s needs and requirements.

Moreover, PKT recognised the difficulties faced by some staff members who are required to work during the MCO. As a result, the management decided to compensate staff who worked during the MCO with a Hardship Allowance. Staff members received RM50 per day on top of their pay, while those who work for half a day will receive RM25.

Amidst all the uncertainty faced by everyone, Dato Michael shared some very calming news during his live stream in our private Facebook Group on 31 March 2020. He assured everyone that PKT will not lay off or retrench any employees to cut costs during the MCO. He expressed his deep appreciation to all employees for their much needed contribution throughout and after the MCO.

In another move that is widely lauded by staff members, Dato’ Michael introduced the Voluntary Salary Deferment Program (VSDP) on 26 April 2020. This programme is aimed at PKT employees with salaries above RM4,000 where a percentage of their salaries for the months of April, May and June 2020 are deferred.

The deferred amount will be paid back in October with a 5% interest per annum. This win-win initiative is taken to conserve the company’s cash flow during the MCO period while staff get to enjoy an interest pay-out in October 2020.

These reassuring measures remind us that together, we are able to weather through any uncertainties, however tough they may be.

The Lighthouse is operating at 50% staff capacity currently, during the MCO.  Our in-house hygiene specialists are now taking extra efforts to wipe down all contact surfaces such as door handles, glass doors, lift buttons, tables, door knobs, office tables and pantry areas.

We can’t wait to see you soon at our safe and sanitised offices after the MCO!