As an area with many mineral mines and a high-risk working environment, Mr. Nguyen Van Tho - Head of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Quy Hop district said that every year, the district's interdisciplinary team regularly conducts inspections, including on labor safety. However, each year, only about 10 - 15 enterprises are inspected, while there are several hundred enterprises in the area. Especially 80 mineral mines and many enterprises in the field of mineral processing.
“When we went to inspect, we found violations of labor safety in almost every place, mostly due to the workers’ lack of awareness. Although the company had provided protective equipment, they did not use it. When we went to inspect, although the workers worked in quarries and mines, where there was a high risk of falling rocks, most of them did not wear helmets,” said Mr. Tho, adding that there were also many businesses that, according to regulations, had to send workers for annual health check-ups but did not do so.
“Many businesses only sign labor contracts and pay insurance for the management framework. Most workers do not have labor contracts, or many businesses circumvent the law by signing labor contracts for only 29 days. Because according to regulations, labor contracts of 1 month or more must pay insurance. Therefore, when the disease is discovered, the workers are the ones at a disadvantage and do not receive support policies even though pneumoconiosis is on the list of occupational diseases,” Mr. Tho added.
During the 5-year period (from 2018 to 2022), the occupational disease clinic of Nghe An Center for Disease Control has examined, detected and assessed 13 cases of workers with occupational silicosis and coal dust who are entitled to social insurance. However, this number is very low compared to the number of workers currently working in a working environment with many occupational hazards and high risks such as mineral mining and processing in Nghe An province. Due to not signing a labor contract and not paying insurance, many workers, especially those working in mineral mines, are not given regular health check-ups and occupational assessments to be entitled to social insurance and compensation from their employers.
Mr. Le Tuan Anh - Head of the Department of Occupational Diseases (Nghe An Province Center for Disease Control) said that currently, the situation of occupational safety and hygiene is facing many problems. First of all, compliance with issues related to the law and occupational safety and hygiene is not high. There is a weak awareness of the law, even a lack of awareness of employers in some establishments, especially small and medium-sized establishments. Therefore, the work of periodic health examinations, occupational disease examinations, and monitoring of the working environment in the units in reality has not been focused on so far.
According to Mr. Le Tuan Anh, many enterprises and production facilities do not fully understand the regulations: All labor facilities must periodically monitor the working environment, establish and periodically supplement management records on labor hygiene, health management records for workers and occupational diseases. "In addition, workers themselves do not fully understand their rights and are subjective in using labor protection during work. Meanwhile, the costs of periodic health check-ups, early detection of occupational diseases, monitoring of the working environment... must be paid by themselves, so businesses often do not fully implement these activities," said the Head of the Department of Occupational Diseases, adding that for workers with short-term and seasonal labor contracts, ensuring their rights is often not focused on.
Faced with this situation, the leaders of the Department of Occupational Diseases (Nghe An Province Center for Disease Control) proposed solutions such as strengthening the guidance, information, education and communication on the legal basis for the care and protection of workers' health to employers and workers. Promoting interdisciplinary activities and specialized inspections to guide and supervise units in implementing and planning to effectively carry out periodic health examinations, early detection of occupational diseases, and monitoring of the working environment. For units that do not comply, there must be strict sanctions to handle violations, in order to raise awareness in protecting workers' health.
Mr. Thai Dinh Lam - Deputy Director of Nghe An Lung Hospital said that workers who had pneumoconiosis who worked at Chau Tien Company were all treated here. However, due to late detection, it was very difficult to save them. "All patients were transferred to the Central Lung Hospital for lung washing but it was not effective. Only 2 cases could be washed, but the fine stone dust particles stuck to the lung walls and could not be cleaned after washing," Mr. Lam said and warned that if pneumoconiosis was detected late, the chance of survival was very small. Therefore, business owners and trade unions at all levels must pay attention to the issue of occupational safety and hygiene, working conditions for workers, especially in occupations with high risk of respiratory diseases and pneumoconiosis. In addition, workers need to protect themselves and comply with labor protection.
Occupational silicosis is the disease with the highest rate among 28 occupational diseases covered by insurance in our country. At one point, silicosis accounted for 74.40%. Silicosis is a condition of lung fibrosis caused by inhaling dust containing silica. Silica is a small crystal-like substance found in sand, rocks or mineral ores such as quartz. Over time, these silica crystals will accumulate in the lungs and airways of the patient. This condition, if prolonged, will cause the patient to have difficulty breathing, respiratory failure, and in severe cases, death. This is an irreversible progressive disease (cannot be cured), even when the patient has stopped being exposed to dust.
Symptoms of silicosis often take many years to develop and the person may not notice any problems. Symptoms may also continue to get worse, even after exposure to silica dust has ended. The first signs of silicosis may be a persistent cough, sometimes accompanied by phlegm, difficulty breathing, and shortness of breath. Some people may eventually find simple activities such as walking or climbing stairs difficult, and may be largely confined to their home or bed.
According to Mr. Le Tuan Anh - Head of the Department of Occupational Diseases (Nghe An Province Center for Disease Control), the risk of occupational silicosis depends on three main factors: occupational exposure, dust concentration in the air, and the ratio of free silica in the dust. In addition, personal factors must also be taken into account, because people exposed to the same dust have different infection statuses. Preventive measures mainly include three aspects: technical, medical, and personal.
Of the three measures mentioned above, technical preventive measures are always the most important: ventilation measures (including general ventilation, local exhaust ventilation), applying wet technology (humidification: spraying water, moistening raw materials; using mist fans, etc.); isolating dust sources. Personal measures are that workers must be fully equipped with protective equipment according to regulations (protective clothing, pants, hats, gloves, glasses, boots, especially specialized N95 masks or half-masks).