Act of dishonesty caught by enforcers
KUCHING: Some business premises here have been caught disguising detergent as hand sanitiser for customers to clean their hands before entering the shops.
This was discovered during a joint operation led by the Ministry of Health (MoH) at Gita, Metro City, Matang Baru, and Demak on Wednesday (June 24), to check on Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) compliance by business sectors allowed to reopen.
Sarawak chief environmental health officer Billy Sujang said the use of detergent not only violates standard operating procedures (SOP) under the RMCO, but could also endanger customers.
“Detergents are corrosive and poisonous, which is why its usage as a sanitiser is harmful. If the business premises wants to use other hand wash solutions, make sure there is a sink and pipe nearby for the customers to wash their hands properly,” he said yesterday.
On the operation, Billy said compounds were issued to six errant businesses for not complying with RMCO SOP.
He explained the violations included not providing hand sanitiser; not recording temperatures and particulars of people entering the premises; and not cleaning, disinfecting, or sanitising premises – offences under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures Within Infected Local Areas) (No.7) Regulations 2020.
“Each compound is fixed at RM1,000. Therefore, the total value of compounds issued that day was RM6,000,” he said.
A total 63 premises were checked during the operation –30 eateries, 29 retail outlets and convenience stores, and four barber shops and hair salons.
It involved a total of 44 enforcement personnel comprising 24 from MoH, seven from the Kuching police district headquarters, 10 from Kuching North City Commission, and one personnel each from the Armed Forces, Civil Defence Force, and People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela).
On a related matter, Billy said the same operation also issued 17 notices under Section 32B of Food Act 1983 for violating the smoking ban at eateries.
He said 15 of the notices were issued to individuals found smoking at eateries, which is an offence under Regulation 11(1)(d) of Control of Tobacco Products (Amendment) Regulations 2018, while the other two notices were issued to eateries which provided ashtrays and other items to encourage people to smoke – an offence under Regulation 12(1)(b) of the same Regulations.
Offences under Regulation 11(1)(d) can be issued compounds up to RM250 or face charges in court, where offenders could be fined a maximum RM10,000 or jailed for up to two years.
Offences under Regulation 12(1)(b), on the other hand, can face compounds of up to RM250, while those charged in court could face fines of up to RM3,000 or not more than six months in jail.
“For the information of everyone, the smoking ban in eateries is still in force. We will continue to carry out these joint operations in more places throughout Sarawak during the RMCO not just to make sure business sectors comply with the SOP, but also to ensure the public comply with the smoking ban in eateries,” added Billy.