18 people in Nghe An died from work accidents in the past 2 years

The immediate consequences are many work accidents, 18 workers have died in the past 2 years... If this work is not strictly rectified, I am afraid that these heartbreaking incidents will not stop.

Disregard for occupational safety

On the afternoon of April 4, 2016, during lunch break, a fire broke out in the flour drying area of ​​the cassava starch production line of Son Long Production and Trading Joint Stock Company, located in Nghia Long Commune, Nghia Dan District, causing serious damage. As a result, 5 people were injured and 1 person died. After that shocking incident, the cause was pointed out to be that the production management board did not coordinate well between departments.

The place where raw cotton materials are received as well as the source of waste cotton at Hoang Thi Loan Textile Company both generate cotton dust. Photo: Mai Hoa

The heartbreaking incident at Son Long Company happened more than 2 years ago, the individuals responsible for the incident have been properly dealt with, but the pain and loss of the victims' families still cannot be appeased. This is a warning for businesses in ensuring safety for workers.

But it seems that many businesses see this obvious lesson as an isolated incident, not their own. For example, at Xuan Ngoc Company Limited in Dong Vinh Industrial Park (Vinh City), which specializes in manufacturing and trading plywood, industrial hygiene is not taken care of, the working space is extremely dirty, and there is a high risk of fire and explosion.

The arrangement of boilers in the factory is not reasonable, causing a high risk of safety loss. Workers are not equipped and fully use protective equipment according to regulations; especially for workers working in positions such as cutting machines, which require strict safety assurance, they are not equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills.

At Song Lam Paper Joint Stock Company, located in Hung Nguyen district, the business owner has not paid attention to ensuring occupational safety. Workers operating machines at stages in the production line have not been fully equipped with labor protection equipment and noise protection in some production stages with high noise levels.

More dangerously, the electrical system in the factory in some areas is exposed on the production floor. This working environment and conditions are not difficult to explain the number of 6 work accidents that occurred in the factory from 2016 to June 30, 2018.

Rock slide, posing a risk to labor safety at the quarry of Hoang Mai Stone Company. Photo: Mai Hoa

Even at the stone quarry of Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company, although operating in a field with high risk of occupational safety loss, the unit has not yet developed an emergency response plan according to regulations. The outdated mining process leads to many hanging stones.

The mining area is not yet standardized, there is no drainage system for rainwater to avoid landslides and rolling rocks due to erosion; there are no signs or regulations on labor safety. Another paradox is that the company's quarry is planned close to the North-South railway system, causing a very high risk of safety loss during the blasting process for mining.

Inspection and examination work is not comprehensive.

Also during the above period, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs presided over and coordinated with other sectors to inspect, examine and supervise the compliance with the law on occupational safety and hygiene (OSH) in 44 cases at 369 enterprises; thereby sanctioning and recommending administrative sanctions for 91 enterprises with a total fine of nearly 1 billion VND. Authorities also recorded 66 occupational accidents causing 81 victims, including 18 deaths/15 cases, 44 seriously injured.

From the beginning of 2016 to the first 6 months of 2018, in Quy Hop, there were 8 work accidents that killed 13 people and injured 5 others. Explaining these extremely painful and heartbreaking numbers, the district leaders said that the staff of the district's Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs held many positions and did not have deep expertise, while the number of enterprises in the area was very large and often fluctuated, making it difficult to implement and supervise.

On the other hand, employers have not really paid due attention to this issue, especially small businesses; they are still lax in inspection and self-inspection to review potential risks of occupational safety loss to proactively prevent and overcome them; workers' awareness of compliance with safety regulations is not high.

The monitoring team investigates the working conditions of workers at Vinh Plastic Packaging Joint Stock Company. Photo: Thanh Duy

Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dang Cao Thang admitted that many businesses are not serious about complying with occupational safety and health laws, especially small and medium enterprises.

Recently, the Provincial People's Council has carried out a very elaborate monitoring program on issues of environment, safety, labor hygiene and regimes and policies for workers. In particular, the Provincial People's Council pointed out: Coordination between levels and sectors on labor safety and hygiene has not been effective; information and propaganda content is still general, raising issues without much information of guidance, orientation and specific classification for each subject in this field.

Inspection and examination work is not comprehensive; inspections at enterprises are not distributed in proportion to the proportion of enterprises classified by ownership form, especially the number of establishments employing less than 10 workers is still low; in addition, the work of urging and checking after inspection and examination has not been given attention, leading to the implementation of inspection conclusions from enterprises not being serious; State management at the district level for occupational safety and health is still limited.

Many enterprises do not develop plans, occupational safety and health records, emergency response plans... according to regulations and do not strictly implement the regime of declaring the workforce, reporting on occupational safety and health work according to regulations to the State management agency. Every year, up to 100 enterprises have not made reports.

Some businesses have not paid attention to training, education, information, propaganda, raising awareness and safe working skills for workers, and have not organized occupational safety and health training for workers.

A monitoring by the Provincial People's Council on the field of labor safety. Photo: Mai Hoa

Some enterprises have not organized a medical department or contracted with medical facilities to organize periodic health check-ups for employees, such as: Matrix Vinh Company Limited; Xuan Ngoc Company Limited; Thai Duong Foreign Pig Breeding Farm, Hoang Thi Loan Textile Company, Sabeco Packaging Company...

Some businesses have not paid attention to and implemented measures to minimize harmful and dangerous factors to workers, and most businesses have not conducted work environment monitoring to issue warnings and remedies to ensure safety and improve the health of workers. Fire prevention and fighting in some businesses is not guaranteed.

In fact, through the monitoring period, the Provincial People's Council discovered that many enterprises and workers have not really paid attention to solutions to ensure occupational safety, especially business owners. To overcome this situation, the Provincial People's Council monitoring delegations have requested the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and localities to strengthen the dissemination of legal regulations on occupational safety; associated with stepping up inspection, examination and handling with sufficient deterrence to protect the rights and safety of workers.