From the case of more than 62 workers with pneumoconiosis: Loopholes in labor safety supervision
(Baonghean.vn) - The incident of more than 62 workers suffering from pneumoconiosis at Chau Tien Limited Company has revealed many shortcomings and loopholes. In particular, the inspection, examination and supervision of occupational safety and hygiene are still lacking in depth, violations have not been detected or have not been strictly handled.
Many violations persist
The working group of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor has just reported the results of the inspection after directly working at Chau Tien Limited Company and relevant authorities regarding the case of 62 workers with pneumoconiosis. This report has shown the shortcomings and loopholes in State management of labor safety assurance at enterprises.
Chau Tien Limited Liability Company is headquartered in Nam Cam Industrial Park, Nghi Long Commune (Nghi Loc). In 2017, the company officially went into production with a technological line for producing stone powder and silica stone products. The technological process of stone processing includes: rough grinding, stone grinding, soaking, washing, drying, particle separation and fine grinding, and packaging. In particular, from the rough grinding stage, stone dust with high silica content was generated and dispersed. In particular, in the fine grinding area, stone dust was recorded by the naked eye to be very concentrated; in the soaking, washing and drying areas, solvents with bleaching chemicals were used to clean and polish the raw materials. On average, there are 20-25 workers working every day at the company.
The current state of the factory shows that auxiliary equipment and dust extraction systems are old, broken, mostly homemade and patchwork; labor is concentrated in a large factory area, but in direct contact with dust, and personal protective equipment is inadequate and of the wrong type, so it does not ensure the basic conditions and principles of dust prevention and control in production, from the technological system to labor organization (not arranging workers who do not need to be in direct contact to dust-free areas, or having partitions between the work area for preparation and auxiliary stages and the direct operation area in direct contact with dust) and personal protective equipment does not meet standards, regulations and quality (dust-filtering masks, half-masks, etc.).
From 2017 to present, the company has recruited a total of 137 workers. After a number of workers who had worked at Chau Tien Limited Liability Company died and were diagnosed with silicosis by the Central Lung Hospital, the Nghe An Health Department organized examinations and detected occupational diseases for 101 workers who had worked at Chau Tien Limited Liability Company.
Through the examination results, occupational disease detection showed that 62 workers who have been working here have occupational silicosis, including: 5 people died related to silicosis, 1 case of death with unknown cause, 19 workers with severe silicosis, 25 people with moderate disease, 13 people with lung damage that need monitoring and 20 cases of the third examination have not yet had results.
The cases of workers at the company who were examined but did not have occupational diseases were mainly managers and indirect workers in the office. The remaining cases of workers are continuing to be screened and examined for occupational diseases, and the number of people with the disease is likely to increase. Severe cases of pneumoconiosis are at risk of rapid health decline and high mortality. Moderate cases are also at risk of worsening if they do not receive adequate care and rehabilitation.
Lack of close supervision
According to the working group's report, before 2023, Chau Tien Limited Liability Company did not organize labor environment monitoring. After discovering many workers died from pneumoconiosis, in March 2023, the company signed a contract to conduct labor environment monitoring, the result: 43 samples did not meet the standards.
Regarding employee health management, employee health and disease management records were established in 2023 (no date or month of establishment), and health status was updated from February 2023. The company does not organize health check-ups before assigning jobs to employees; the company does not have records of occupational disease management. Before 2023, the company did not organize periodic health check-ups and occupational disease detection examinations.
In February 2023, the company had a contract for periodic health examinations at a private clinic in Nam Dan district. The contract included occupational disease examinations. However, the results did not include occupational disease examination results. This clinic is not qualified to conduct occupational disease examinations.
Regarding the settlement of regimes and policies for employees who have been found to have occupational diseases, all cases of occupational diseases have not yet been resolved with compensation regimes (from the employer), subsidies (from social insurance) for people with occupational diseases that reduce their ability to work according to the provisions of the Law on Labor Safety and Hygiene. There are a number of employees who used to work at Chau Tien Limited Liability Company who have not participated in social insurance according to the regulations.
Regarding labor law, the company did not comply with the requirement to fully inform about working conditions, employee rights in labor contracts and the labor use process.
Regarding social insurance, many recruited workers are not covered by social insurance, including occupational accident and disease insurance.
Regarding occupational safety and hygiene, the company did not fully fulfill its responsibilities to ensure safe working conditions and occupational hygiene; did not conduct occupational safety and hygiene training, assess occupational risks, classify workers according to working conditions; did not fully equip occupational safety and hygiene equipment; did not fully implement measures to prevent and combat occupational diseases; did not fully equip the right types of personal protective equipment; did not fully organize monitoring of the working environment, did not organize examinations to detect occupational diseases and many other regulations.
Also according to the head of the working group, Nguyen Anh Tho, the incident at Chau Tien Limited Liability Company shows that the supervision, inspection and examination by State management agencies at all levels have not been carried out promptly and fully with a manufacturing enterprise in a field with a high risk of occupational accidents and diseases, which is the production and processing of construction materials (processing stones with high silica content).
Guidance and implementation of legal regulations on occupational safety and hygiene are not effective, especially those related to occupational hygiene, prevention and control of occupational diseases, examination and detection of occupational diseases, social insurance, occupational accident and disease insurance.
“Currently, most organizations providing services for labor environment monitoring, health examination and occupational disease detection have limited capacity, not meeting the requirements for full monitoring of labor environment indicators, and do not have enough equipment and experts to detect many occupational diseases. At the same time, businesses do not fully participate in training courses on labor safety and hygiene, health management, and working environment, leading to incomplete implementation and non-compliance with the law,” said Mr. Tho.
From the case at Chau Tien Limited Liability Company, the working group believes that the investment of resources by enterprises in occupational safety and hygiene, prevention of occupational accidents and diseases is still modest, especially in small and medium enterprises.
Meanwhile, many enterprises have imported technology and equipment systems for decades, mainly importing key production technology and equipment, reducing safety and labor hygiene technology and equipment. This is an issue that needs to be carefully and scientifically evaluated to have comprehensive solutions and measures from policy, management to organization, implementation, both in the short term and in the long term.
Information and propaganda work on occupational safety and hygiene mainly affects large-scale enterprises and production and business establishments, concentrated in industrial parks and export processing zones, and has not been widely deployed to medium, small, and micro enterprises and traditional craft villages.
Meanwhile, labor environment monitoring is still formal, does not comply with the principles of measuring and controlling harmful factors, lacks detailed procedures and regulations, leading to inconsistent implementation of labor environment monitoring, reducing the reliability of labor environment monitoring results; examination, diagnosis, assessment and treatment of occupational diseases are still very limited, affecting the rights of workers working in arduous, toxic and dangerous environments.
“Inspection, examination and supervision of occupational safety and hygiene are still lacking in depth, failing to promptly detect violations and safety risks, or if detected, handling is not strict; lacking in determination in requiring workers to properly and fully comply with regulations, standards, procedures, regulations and technical safety measures,” said Dr. Nguyen Anh Tho.
