Outbreak Measures in Metro Istanbul

Within the scope of combating the coronavirus epidemic, which has become a global problem, every institution and individuals of the society have important duties. all areas where a day more than 2 million passenger-carrying Turkey's largest city rail operators with Metro Istanbul both on behalf of passengers to protect the health of both the working station and the passenger and staff of contact, though the stations and offices, refectory who use only the staff of the campus, the workshop took precautions to provide an environment suitable for anti-virus measures anywhere in the warehouse.

Covid-19 - What is the New Coronavirus?

It is the name given to the virus type that caused the epidemic that was announced to the world as a result of Wuhan city of China since the beginning of January 2020. While corona virus is a virus that is known by its authorities but does not cause disease in humans, it has spread from animal to human and then to human by mutation. Today's trade has become a worldwide epidemic in a short time due to reasons such as vitality and prevalence in personal travel. Finally, this has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Global Pandemic - Worldwide Outbreak.

The measures prepared by Metro Istanbul as a result of the measures, studies and cases taken all over the world are as follows;

Our Work Before the Epidemic Threat

As Metro Istanbul, when the epidemic was not yet seen in our country, we worked with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality on preventive measures.

National and international operators, transportation authorities and organizations were followed up and contacts were established, and arrangements and studies made worldwide were examined. The examinations and evaluations were handled by Metro Istanbul Workplace Health Board along with the explanations of the Ministry of Health, Scientific Board and related state institutions, measures to be taken in the case of the outbreak in our country, action plans were updated and studies were started within the framework of preliminary measures. Prepared action plan TÜRSİD (Turkey Rail System Operators Association) was also shared with.

Our Precautions Against the Outbreak Threat

Every day more than 2 million passenger-carrying Turkey's largest operator of urban rail systems, our passengers and our employees to protect the health, in order to contribute to prevent the spread of the outbreak we had the following precautions to life.

Precautions Taken for Our Passengers:

1. All kinds of equipment and surfaces that our passengers and employees contact, including the interior areas of all our vehicles and the turnstiles, ticket machines, elevators, escalators, escalators, fixed stair handrails and seating areas at our stations, were disinfected with effective disinfectant materials for 30 days. The disinfectant used was applied by fogging method and contains antiallergenic and antimicrobial substances that do not harm human health.
2. Action plans of domestic and international public transportation companies and
Covid-19 applications were examined and our current applications were evaluated.
3. In order to reduce the psychological pressure on our passengers and to inform them correctly, information and images related to disinfection and cleaning studies were prepared. These works were shared with our digital screens and social media accounts in our vehicles and stations.
4. Masks were started to be provided for passengers who were disturbed during the journey, needed to go to the health institution or who requested health support.
5. Despite the decreases in the number of passengers, it was decided to continue the flights in a way not to make victims of our passengers in accordance with the IMM decisions.
6. Until a second decision, the Night Metro flights were suspended.
7. Mostly used for touristic travel and passenger numbers
The TF90 Maçka-Taşkışla and TF1 Eyüp-Piyer Loti tefelerik lines, which decreased by 2%, were temporarily closed to operation.
8. The decision on the free use of public transportation vehicles by healthcare professionals was put into practice.
9. In order to warn our passengers “Protect Your Social Distance” in rail system vehicles, the stickers with the warning of sitting are started to be applied to the vehicles.

Precautions Taken for Our Employees:

1. Employees at risk of close contact with passengers were given hygiene training, and the frequency of cleaning was increased in their work areas.
2. In our train cabins, the contact surfaces of our train drivers are disinfected / disinfected.
3. Measures were taken to ensure the hygiene and safety of SMAMP (Driverless Metro Emergency Response Personnel) working on M5 Üsküdar-Çekmeköy driverless metro line vehicles.
4. Statements and decisions made by IMM and the Ministry of Health were followed instantly, and information and practices were shared with our employees.
5. Disinfection was carried out at every point of contact, including our campuses, workshops, common areas, road and rail vehicles, and work equipment, and the frequency of cleaning was increased.
6. At the entrance to the campus, fire measurements were started with contactless devices.
7. Administrative leave was applied in accordance with the Presidential Decree for our employees with chronic health problems, disabilities, pregnant women and over 60 years of age.
8. For our O ve s employees, plans were made to support the #evdekal application by enabling as few personnel to go out as possible with Remote Work and Recycling Work systems.
9. Hygiene practices were increased in dining halls and tea ovens, and new decisions were taken in order to prevent contact of employees in these departments. Closed package implementation was initiated in food distribution, and daily follow-up of the cafeteria and tea center employees was added to the business plans.
10. Employees traveling abroad have been identified and tracked under the Ministry of Health Action Plan.
11. Employees and companies were informed in order to establish communication with suppliers by telephone and e-mail, and to minimize visitor entries and company visits.
12. The Emergency Action Plan procedures and principles were discussed with the “coronavirus” agenda at the OHS Committee. The Action Plan was updated and shared with all employees.

13. All organizations requiring intense participation such as in-house training and conferences were postponed.
14. Things to be done about personal hygiene started to be shared with our employees and passengers frequently.

After all these studies, feedback plans, reflections from passengers, explanations and warnings made by IMM and Ministry of Health were evaluated and action plans were created for the next phase.