Production must be safe

Dai Dung Mechanical - Construction - Trading Joint Stock Company is an enterprise that always ensures safe working conditions for workers

There are 3 occupational diseases with the highest incidence rates: silicosis (74%), occupational deafness and occupational skin diseases. Mining, construction materials, mechanics, production and use of chemicals are the industries with the highest incidence rates of occupational diseases.

However, the most worrying thing is that the management and health examination of occupational diseases for employees still receives due attention from enterprises. Most enterprises and occupational disease clinics only examine diseases in the list of 34 insured occupational diseases and do not examine occupational diseases outside the list.

In addition, the system of facilities for examining and detecting occupational diseases is still limited in quantity and quality. Currently, the whole country has only more than 60 occupational disease clinics with full legal entities to examine patients, and some provinces do not have any occupational disease clinics.

In addition to the consequences of illness and social consequences, the damage caused by occupational diseases is also very large. The material damage is tens of billions of VND/year; compensation and subsidies from employers are hundreds of billions of VND/year. In addition, the damage caused by workers having to take time off work is also very large, an average of 500,000 working days/year in the period 2016-2020.

According to the health sector's report in 2019, the rate of sick leave among workers is about 25% and the total number of sick leave days is about 1 million days. From this reality, Mr. Trinh Hong Lan proposed: "The Labor Accident and Occupational Disease Insurance Fund should support the entire cost of occupational disease examination for workers. Functional sectors need to increase investment and develop facilities for occupational disease examination and treatment, especially policies to support workers who unfortunately have occupational accidents to stabilize their lives. In addition, it is necessary to pay due attention to the inspection and examination of occupational safety and health activities at enterprises".

Proactively prevent risks

According to delegates, both enterprises and workers know about occupational safety and health, but to have an overview, understand and grasp the process, this number is still modest. This causes occupational accidents and occupational diseases to still occur - especially among workers in the informal sector, workers in the industrial and construction sectors on a small scale.

Sharing at the discussion, Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, Chairman of the Trade Union of Dai Dung Mechanical - Construction - Trading Joint Stock Company (An Ha Industrial Park, Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City), said that occupational accidents occurred partly because the occupational safety and hygiene (OSH) force was not determined to fight against violations due to fear of collision and favoritism. Some OSH workers are also direct production workers who concurrently do many jobs, limiting their ability to propagate, mobilize and persuade.

From the practical operation of the OSH network in enterprises, Mr. Hung said that the grassroots Trade Union should proactively negotiate to include in the enterprise's labor regulations the content prohibiting obstruction and causing difficulties for the operations of OSH workers. In addition, it is necessary to promptly propose labor protection policies and regimes; inspect and monitor to promptly identify risks and prevent occupational accidents.

"In addition to coordinating with the Trade Union to build and maintain the effective operation of the occupational safety and health network, employers also need to listen to the recommendations and proposals of the Trade Union to have solutions to overcome and handle dangerous and harmful factors in the workplace" - Mr. Hung commented.

Similarly, Ms. Huynh Anh Thu, Chairwoman of the Trade Union of Vietnam Livestock Industry Corporation (Vissan), said that the business leaders must have the right awareness and identify occupational safety and health as an important task in the production and business process to propose effective directions and solutions, thereby contributing to limiting occupational accidents.

At Vissan, each year, the Trade Union coordinates with the Occupational Safety and Health Council to organize training courses on occupational safety and health at least twice for all employees. The company's occupational safety and health network consists of 104 people, mainly young workers - those who have experience in production and are knowledgeable about occupational safety and health. This force has actively coordinated with relevant departments and divisions to regularly inspect and supervise labor safety and hygiene in departments, promptly reminding workers to strictly follow labor regulations. With this methodical approach, the company rarely has labor accidents.