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

The obvious consequences are many work accidents occurring, 18 workers have died in the past 2 years... If this work is not strictly rectified, I fear 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 the production management board not coordinating 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. It is a warning for businesses in ensuring safety for workers.

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

The arrangement of boilers in the factory is not reasonable, causing great safety risks. 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, but 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 at different stages of the production line have not been fully equipped with labor protection and noise-proofing equipment in some high-noise production stages.

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 occupational accidents that occurred in the factory from 2016 to June 30, 2018.

Rock slide, posing a potential safety risk 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 standardized, there is no drainage system for rainwater to avoid landslides and rolling rocks due to erosion; signs and regulations on labor safety are not fully installed. Another paradox is that the company's quarry is planned close to the North-South railway system, causing a very high risk of insecurity 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 conduct inspections, checks, and supervision of compliance with occupational safety and hygiene (OSH) laws 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, of which 18 people died/15 cases, 44 people were seriously injured.

From the beginning of 2016 to the first 6 months of 2018, in Quy Hop area, there were 8 labor 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 concurrent 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 monitor.

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

The monitoring team learned about 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 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 received attention, leading to the implementation of inspection conclusions from enterprises not being serious; State management work at the district level on 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 supervision by the Provincial People's Council on the field of labor safety. Photo: Mai Hoa

Some enterprises have not yet 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 businesses 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 propaganda and 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.