Retailers strengthen quarantine efforts at warehouses

A Coupang deliveryman takes products into an apartment complex in Seoul using a trolley, Aug. 15. / Korea Times file

By Kim Jae-heun

Local online retailers are paying close attention to the resurgence of COVID-19, as newly confirmed cases are putting their logistic centers at risk of being shut down for several days.

The country's largest e-commerce firm Coupang reopened its warehouse in Incheon, Monday, five days after a janitor there was confirmed to have been infected. Another worker, who took the same company bus to commute to the logistics center, tested positive the next day but Coupang said no more cases have been confirmed.

Last Saturday, Coupang also shuttered another warehouse in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, after a married couple working part-time were found to have contracted the virus. The facility remains closed for disinfection.

The e-commerce giant said it has strengthened its disinfection countermeasures as its existing social distancing measures are already set at the highest level.

“We are already going far beyond the orders from the quarantine authorities. To start with, we keep our workers seated apart from each other on the commuter buses and their QR code is scanned upon arrival. We are managing workers' protective clothes with barcodes to make sure they are washed frequently,” a Coupang official said.

Since June, Coupang has doubled the number of commuter buses to better abide by social distancing measures. It also implemented an alarm application for personal digital assistance, which goes off when a person comes within a 1 meter radius of another.

The country's largest retailer E-mart closed its logistics center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, June 27.

In May, E-mart hired a special disinfection service company to sanitize their warehouses across the country at least once a week.

It also applied antibacterial film over the handlebars of shopping carts and elevator buttons at supermarkets.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it is reviewing stronger quarantine guidelines for retailers' warehouses, which are designated as high-risk facilities.

There have been requests from the public to obligate workers at logistics centers to wear personal protection clothing.

Many retailers are sterilizing protective gear frequently as it is shared by multiple employees.

The current guidelines allow workers to share protective clothing under the condition that they are sterilized every day. This applies for helmets, goggles, gloves and shoes.

Market Kurly has replaced workers' safety vests with name tags starting from August. Before, people used common protective clothing which was washed once a week.

But the public is urging the local government to specify detailed quarantine guidelines for retailers' warehouses instead of leaving it up to the company.

“We are reviewing possible updates to our guidelines but nothing has been decided yet,” a city official said.