'No Indian or foreign-returnees at our facilities'

The Sunday Times contacted Brandix Apparel Limited to answer some questions on email. Here are the questions and their answers:

■ Please confirm that no Indians or foreign-returnees came to repair the air-conditioning at the Head Office, Minuwangoda factory or any other factory. Please confirm that no Indians or foreign-returnees came for any other work to these places. Please confirm that no imported material or other stuff, whether from India or elsewhere was used in the factories in Sri Lanka.

All the returnees from India were Sri Lankan Executive cadre employees who had been expatriated to support with the management of our facilities in India. Further, we had not had any Indian or foreign-returnees at our facilities to repair air- conditioning or other work.

Our facility in Minuwangoda does not use any fabric from India as already stated in our previous statement. Further, the Coronavirus can last only a few hours outside a carrier's body. With raw material imports taking 10 - 20 days to reach Sri Lanka, the virus is unable to survive. Further, the closed containers reach very high temperatures during the travel period, during which the virus is once again unable to survive. Hence, during the import process, the virus is no longer effective for contamination.

■ Is it true that Brandix is exporting face-masks to the USA? If so, what has been the fallout from the COVID-19 crisis that has surrounded the Minuwangoda factory? The face masks we produce at Minuwangoda are produced as an apparel accessory for our existing customers. We have halted production since the identification of the 1st COVID-19 positive employee at Minuwangoda.

Did any Sri Lankan or other workers (of foreign origin) from any of the foreign factories (in Bangladesh, Singapore, United States, United Kingdom, Cambodia, Australia and Haiti) come to Sri Lanka for work in the past two months?

No, this has not taken place.

■ What were the health procedures followed at the Brandix factories in the light of COVID-19? If stringent safety precautions were followed, how was the third-party cleaning service contracted by Brandix Minuwangoda allowed to carry out cleaning processes at the factory when its staff was ill? (We refer to the video that has been on social media and which Brandix has addressed in the media release)

All our facilities are instructed to follow the protocol for COVID-19 prevention in line with the health authorities. We are investigating on how the protocols have been inadequate in spite of what is in place.

Our COVID- 19 prevention process is a standard practice for both internal and external parties. The two contracted cleaning staff members had been requested to carry out the sanitation process required prior to the PCR testing scheduled for 5th October 2020, a requirement that was conducted under the supervision of the PHI present at the facility and in complete adherence to the COVID- 19 prevention protocol that included wearing of hazmat suits.

■ Was there a party in early September where Brandix employees gathered at any of the Brandix factories?

Upon resuming our routine business post the closure during the COVID- 19 lockdown phase earlier this year, we have been working tirelessly to sustain the limited number of orders received. As a general protocol, our factory management takes efforts to run employee engagement to boost morale and for team building purposes, hence we are investigating as to whether proper protocols had been followed.

■ Did the Brandix management issue instructions to any of the factories (including Minuwangoda) for employees to come to work even if they were unwell? Did a Brandix General Manager on-site at Minuwangoda instruct 6 workers who had COVID-19 symptoms to go back to work on the factory floor?

Brandix has a clear health and safety protocol and as a policy, we have directed all our facilities to follow the Ministry of Health protocol. However, we are thoroughly investigating on any failures in this regard and will share our learnings, and take the necessary action if found to be in violation.