Reinforcing Labour Safety Practice

 

In the industrial sector, every year localities reported approx 4,383 workplace accidents on average, which leave around 4,553 people injured and 498 dead. The number of labour accidents grows 7.95 per cent annually. However, scientists and authorities said that in fact the number of accidents is tens times higher than the report, approx 40,000 cases per annum. 

 

For the agricultural field, the statistics showed around 30 per cent of people who directly sprayed pesticide has signals of toxic infection. The percentage of electricity-related accidents is 7.99 per cent while that involved in using agricultural machines is 8.56 per cent. It means that for every 100,000 farm labourers there are 799 suffering from power shocks and 856 suffering from machine-related accidents. 

In addition, the kinds of occupational diseases and the number of sufferers are trending to increase. In the period between 1990 and 2005, the number of sufferers from occupational diseases had tripled the number of 5,497 people of the 1976-1990 period. There have had more new diseases like SARD, H1N1, phlebectasia.

 

Particularly, there are only 10 per cent of production establishment which are on the high risk of causing occupational diseases have organised health examination for labourers. As a result, the number of labourers suffering from occupational diseases is tens times higher than the reported statistics.   

 

In front of the real situation, during the past time, relevant ministries, agencies and localities have actively strengthened the labour safety and hygiene work and gained significant achievements. 

 

It includes a system of suffient legal documents involved in the matter approved and often adjusted to be suitable to the development. The team of cadres working in the labour insurance is consecutively increased and trained. In addition, the propaganda and communication is diversified in many manners like through books, leaflets, website and documentary films, seminars on television. Particularly, the National Week of Labour Safety and Hygiene - Fire Prevention has been organized annually, becoming a festival of employees and employers nationwide. A series of international cooperation activities regarding labour safety and hygiene have been promoted with nations of Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Germany and international organisations like ILO, WHO, WB and ADB, attracting over VND100 billion in non-refundable and other technical aids.  

From now to 2010, the VCCI will carry out the two projects involved in healthcare and improvement of working conditions for labourers. These projects also aim to raise the awareness and employees, employers, and organizations on the matter as well as encourage them to obey the relevant laws.

 

The Project 4 will focus on strengthening the implementation of labour insurance among small and medium enterprises. In detail, it will help boost the propaganda and training for employers and employees; enhancing training, consultancy and mobilizing businesses to carry out the labour insurance; preventing the rise of workplace accidents; improving working conditions in small and medium enterprises; organizing seminars and conferences to introduce international standards regarding labour safety and hygiene and corporate social responsibility; updating the information on labour safety and hygiene on newspapers, television and website of the VCCI; organizing the annual contest on corporate social responsibility; researching to pilot the management model of labour safety and hygiene in enterprises.     

 

The Project 6 meanwhile focusing on boosting the capacity in promoting the information and propaganda on labour insurance and labour safety and hygiene, calling on the public to actively attend the labour insurance in the era of industrialization and modernization, investing to upgrade the training centre for labour safety and hygiene; encouraging the building of green-clean- beautiful environment in schools and education units.    

 

During the four months of this year, the project had organized some training courses and conferences on the matter in some localities. They included a training course entitled “Raising the labour protection work in small and medium enterprises” for staff working in the VCCI’s branches and those from Hanoi-based associations; another training course in Can Tho City on raising the implementation of labour insurance in the Mekong delta’s small and medium enterprises and a conference themed “Labour Safety and Hygiene – Key of Success for Enterprises” held recently in Haiphong city. In the first quarter of this year, the project management unit also published an internal document which introduced the Labour Safety Council and the committee for labour safety and hygiene in order to build the connection between the employee and the employer regarding the issue of labour safety and hygiene.  

 

The two projects have set target to maximally reduce the number of fatalities due to workplace accidents, reduce by 5 per cent of the amount of labour accidents in the high-risk sectors like mining, construction, electricity. It also aims to reduce by 10 per cent of labourers suffering from occupational diseases annually; to ensure 80 per cent of labourers on the risk to occupational diseases to be examined and 100 per cent of sufferers to be cared and treated. It also targets of 80 per cent of labourers working in the fields which strictly require for the labour safety and hygiene and labour safety workers to be trained on the matter, and 100 per cent of serious workplace cases and those causing the fatality to be investigated and dealt with.
Huyen Nhi