Enterprises in Nghe An province have not strictly implemented periodic health check-ups for workers.

Cognitive Gap

Visiting a construction stone supplier in Vinh city, the first image that catches everyone’s eye is the stone cutters working in extremely simple clothes. No hats, caps or masks, stone dust covers the hair, eyebrows, eyelashes and sticks thickly to the skin and clothes of the workers.

“Wearing a mask is uncomfortable, cumbersome, and hot. I know that rock dust is not good for the respiratory system, but I have to accept it. Life and death are predestined,” said Le Hai D., a worker born in 1985, when reminded by his employer to wear a mask while working.

Regarding the toxic factors at work, Ms. Nguyen Thi D. - a worker at a leather shoe company shared: "Not only me, many of my colleagues also like to work in departments with high toxic factors to get extra allowances. However, when working in this toxic environment, because of laziness and shyness, very few people strictly follow the regulations on labor protection, occupational safety and hygiene as well as go for regular check-ups."

In 2023, there were 9 employees who used to work at the Company.Chau Tien Company Limited(Nam Cam Industrial Park - Nghi Loc District) suffered from diseases related to exposure to Silic dust and toxic chemicals, of which 5 people died and 4 people had to receive long-term treatment. The cause of the incident was that the employer did not provide occupational safety and hygiene training to workers, did not organize periodic health check-ups, did not conduct occupational disease screening for workers, did not monitor the working environment, violated technical safety standards, and lacked inspection and supervision.

According to the representative of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the compliance with legal regulations on occupational safety and hygiene of some units and enterprises, especially small and medium enterprises, is still limited; employers are not really interested in occupational safety and hygiene, such as: not attending or sending people to attend training courses organized by competent agencies; not organizing periodic health check-ups, occupational disease detection check-ups; not classifying laborers doing heavy, toxic, and dangerous work; not monitoring the working environment; not providing adequate labor protection equipment; not organizing occupational safety and hygiene training for workers...

However, besides employers who intentionally ignore this content, there are also those who have a "headache" because even though they have provided adequate labor protection and disseminated enough knowledge, workers still do not comply.

“My company has permanent and seasonal workers. For permanent workers, we have hazard allowances and money for workers to have regular health check-ups, but most of them do not go for check-ups and do not comply with occupational safety and health regulations,” said Ms. Le Quynh Trang, owner of a natural stone supply company for construction projects.

According to the Department of Health's report, in the first 10 months of 2023, the Department conducted health check-ups to detect occupational diseases for 35 units, with a total of 15,823 workers; conducted examinations for occupational diseases: Tuberculosis, silicosis, bronchial asthma, whole-body vibration, local vibration, deafness, dermatitis, skin pigmentation, chemical poisoning, bronchitis for 14 units, with 2,751 workers. At the same time, conducted monitoring of the working environment at 15 production facilities, with a total of 1,645 physical samples and 1,240 chemical samples.

Lack of deterrence?

Inspection and examination by competent authorities at enterprises play an important role in compliance with policies and laws on occupational safety and hygiene at enterprises in general and occupational diseases in particular.

In 2023, the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs coordinated with the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Social Insurance of Nghe An province to inspect compliance with the law on social insurance, occupational accident and disease insurance at 10 agencies and enterprises in the area. The Provincial People's Committee also deployed 2 interdisciplinary teams to inspect compliance with the law on minerals (including the law on occupational safety and hygiene) at 24 mineral enterprises.

Departments, branches and localities have also conducted many inspections and supervisions on labor, occupational safety and hygiene, and social insurance at nearly 1,000 production and business units. Of which, the Department of Health inspected 6 district and town medical centers and 642 establishments and enterprises; the Department of Construction inspected and provided guidance at 124 agencies and construction works; the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs inspected 25 enterprises; the Department of Natural Resources and Environment inspected 25 units and enterprises; the Provincial Labor Federation inspected and supervised 6 enterprises; the People's Committee of Nghi Loc district inspected 28 enterprises; the People's Committee of Nam Dan district inspected 23 enterprises, etc.

Through inspection, the inspection and supervision teams requested the units to overcome the shortcomings in occupational safety and hygiene such as: Employers have not organized initial and periodic training on occupational safety and hygiene; have not organized periodic health check-ups; have not provided adequate personal protective equipment for workers; have not monitored the working environment; have not declared the use of machinery, equipment, and materials with strict requirements on occupational safety and hygiene...

It can be affirmed that the number of enterprises and units inspected, examined and trained is not small. However, the number of rectifications and implementations is not high. Directly participating in monitoring the implementation of policies and laws on occupational safety and hygiene at a number of enterprises, Mr. Hoang Thanh Binh - expert of the Department of Legal Policy - Labor Relations, Provincial Labor Federation said: "Most of the enterprises, from the beginning, lacked labor classification or classified them subjectively. In addition, the management and supervision after inspection and examination is not strict, leading to the situation of "back to the same old situation". Many enterprises have been pointed out for violations and limitations but have not been able to overcome them well".

Sharing the same view, the representative of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs also said that the direction and implementation of occupational safety and hygiene, especially in the field of occupational hygiene, by some agencies and authorities has not received due attention, and coordination between sectors and functional agencies is not regular. In addition, some provisions in legal documents are not close to reality, and handling through inspection, examination and investigation is not really strict, only serving as reminders and instructions.

In addition, State management officials in charge of occupational safety and hygiene are mainly part-time; the specialized inspection force for occupational safety and hygiene is small in quantity and of uneven quality (most of them are not trained in specialized knowledge of science and technology); the State budget still has many difficulties, therefore, the annual allocation of funds for State management activities on occupational safety and hygiene is still limited...

When the limitations in awareness, perception and inspection and supervision have not been thoroughly overcome, the implementation of occupational safety and hygiene in general and periodic medical examinations for workers in high-risk enterprises in particular will be very difficult to carry out.