To safely resume full operations and ensure the proper delivery of vital services, West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) has started the conduct of Screening Serologic Antibody Tests for returning Maynilad employees, including third-party service providers such as meter readers, desludging personnel, and other contractors prior to redeployment for fieldwork assignments. Those with positive results in this screening will undergo further COVID-19 tests. This activity is being implemented in partnership with the Delos Santos Medical Center of the MPIC Hospitals Group. The water company has also instituted stringent protocols for calibrated reentry into offices. Only a third of its employees, specifically those assigned to mission-critical activities such as water and wastewater operations, are returning to their respective workplaces; the rest will sustain work-from-home arrangements. All Maynilad employees and service providers are required to observe workplace safety measures such as social distancing, regular disinfection, temperature checks, and wearing of Personal Protective Equipment. This June, Maynilad will resume major construction projects, as well as meter reading and onsite billing activities. It will also gradually start opening its Business Area offices. “Since the start of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), we have been putting in place new safety policies and procedures to adapt to the so-called ‘new normal’ workplace scenario. This is necessary so we can ensure the continued health and safety of our workers and customers,†Maynilad said. Since the start of ECQ in mid-March, a skeletal workforce of frontline Maynilad personnel continued manning facilities and conducting maintenance work despite quarantine restrictions to ensure sustained water service for the company’s 9.7 million customers.