For over a year now, Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh (Hamlet 1, Nghi Hung Commune, Nghi Loc District) has had to quit her job at an electronics company to take care of her husband in the hospital. Ms. Binh can't remember how many times she had to take her husband to hospitals for help, from Nghe An to Hue City, and then to Hanoi. But all the doctors shook their heads because her husband's pneumoconiosis was too severe to be washed. Ms. Binh still did not give up. To make money to pay for it, every time she finished cooking for her husband in the hospital bed, Ms. Binh rushed to restaurants around the hospital to ask for a job washing dishes.
Binh’s husband, Hoang Van Son (47 years old), is one of the workers at Chau Tien Company Limited who has pneumoconiosis. “I didn’t expect this disease to be so dangerous. My health is deteriorating so quickly,” Binh told reporters in tears. Although he was just diagnosed with the disease, Son has been unable to walk for many months now, has to use oxygen, and is fighting death every day.
Mr. Son started working at this company in October 2019, with a salary of only 6 million VND/month, working on the stone powder mixing line. According to Mr. Son, on the line he works, there are many types of stone powder, the main one being quartz. “Every time I work, the dust flies up like smoke. However, the company does not provide masks for the workers. When an inspection team is about to arrive, the company's leaders ask the workers to turn off the machines and stop working to avoid causing dust,” Mr. Son added.
Having worked at Chau Tien Company Limited for nearly 3 years, in June 2022, Mr. Son felt his health gradually decline. At the same time, he received information that Mr. Tran Huu Quang (37 years old, also residing in Nghi Hung commune, Nghi Loc), discovered that he had severe pneumoconiosis during a medical examination. Before that, Mr. Quang had also worked at Chau Tien Company Limited for more than 3 years. Feeling worried, many workers at this company, including Mr. Son, began to go for medical examinations and simultaneously discovered that they had severe pneumoconiosis, most of which could not be washed.
Although most of the workers have labor contracts and pay insurance, for some reason, after they contracted pneumoconiosis, Chau Tien Company Limited still did not organize a health examination for them. Because pneumoconiosis is listed as an occupational disease, if a worker contracts it, he or she will be compensated by the employer and receive monthly insurance benefits. In just over 2 months, from the end of September 2022 to the beginning of December 2022, 3 workers died from pneumoconiosis. One of them died after just over 1 month of not working at Chau Tien Company Limited. Seeing the seriousness of the situation, the workers began to file a complaint with the local authorities.
After receiving a complaint from the people, in February 2023, the Nghi Loc District People's Committee sent a report to the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board for clarification. According to this report, in Nghi Loc District, there were up to 8 people with pneumoconiosis who worked at Chau Tien Company Limited, of which 3 died. However, later, many more workers reported that they also had pneumoconiosis after working at this company.
During the inspection, the Management Board of the Southeast Economic Zone requested the company to visit and encourage 8 families with workers suffering from pneumoconiosis; and to organize occupational disease screening for all workers. At this time, the company visited and supported the cases that had lost 3 million VND, and the sick cases received 2 million VND. On March 15, the company organized occupational disease screening for 28 workers at the Nghe An Provincial Center for Disease Control. According to the representative of the Provincial Center for Disease Control, the results showed that 3 more workers had pneumoconiosis.
According to the reporter's investigation, in addition to the 8 cases reported earlier this year, there have been 6 more cases in Nghi Loc district reporting that they also suffered from pneumoconiosis after working at Chau Tien Company Limited. In addition, in Quynh Luu district, there is also one more case that has passed away. That is Mr. Ho Duc Hung (born in 1990, Quynh Doi commune). According to the workers, this is the first death case.
Sharing with Nghe An Newspaper reporters, Mr. Hung's wife said that her husband started working as a worker at Chau Tien Company Limited in 2017. By July 2020, his health had gradually declined, and after going to the doctor, he was diagnosed with pneumoconiosis. "Every time he came home to visit, my husband said that he worked in a very dusty environment, so I could only buy him more masks. Because my husband always slept at the company, I occasionally stopped by to visit and witnessed the dust everywhere," Mr. Hung's wife said, adding that in January 2021, her husband passed away nearly half a year after discovering the disease.
“When Hung got sick, we knew and went to visit him, but at that time, none of us workers thought the cause was dust,” said Duong Van Chinh (34 years old, Nghi Dong commune, Nghi Loc). Chinh is also one of the workers suffering from pneumoconiosis, but luckily he went to the doctor early so he could still wash his lungs. Chinh also started working at Chau Tien Company Limited in 2017 and is also the team leader of the stone separation team like Hung. Although he signed a labor contract and paid insurance, Chinh said that during the 5 years he worked here, he and the other workers have never had the company organize regular health check-ups. This company also does not have a trade union.
“It’s very dusty in there, but when you check, you can’t find it, because every time it happens, the workers have already turned off the machine and cleaned up all the dust. Only those who apply to work as workers like us can understand,” said Mr. Chinh, who said that the workers have dust in their lungs and their health is rapidly deteriorating due to the chemicals used by the company. Accordingly, although the registration license states that they are processing stone powder, according to the workers, most of it is quartz powder. Before being ground finely, the quartz is soaked in chemicals to turn it into a beautiful white color.
Speaking to the press, Mr. Ho Viet Cam - Director of Chau Tien Company Limited said that the workers who died from pneumoconiosis and are being treated have all quit their jobs at the company for a long time, some have quit for more than a year. "To confirm whether the cause is Chau Tien Company Limited, or any other cause, the company is not capable of assessing and must rely on the authorities," said Mr. Cam.
Meanwhile, according to the workers, most of them showed signs of declining health or went to the doctor and found out they had pneumoconiosis and could no longer work before asking to quit. Among them, there were cases where they died after only 1 month of taking a leave of absence. “The company leaders are so heartless when they say that. Like me, I have worked for more than 5 years, last year while I was working I felt short of breath. I went to the doctor and found out I had pneumoconiosis, I went to Hanoi to get it cleaned and came back to rest for a month, thinking it was not serious so I continued to apply to work at the company because the company leaders said they were short of people. But after working for 1 week I couldn't stay any longer,” said Mr. Duong Dinh Chinh.
