The National Council on Labour Safety and Hygiene held a dialogue in the central province of Quang Nam on May 3, drawing more than 200 participants across the nation.

The event, co-held by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), was part of activities in response to the national action month for labour safety and hygiene in 2019.

Head of the national council’s secretariat and director of the labour safety department of the MoLISA Ha Tat Thang said that various issues were tabled for discussion during the dialogue, including criteria of trainers, content and time of training in labour safety and hygiene for employers, and standards of labour safety and hygiene towards the completion of policies in this field.

Participants discussed issues that frequent arise in reality such as investigation of work accidents, punishment for violations of labour safety and hygiene rules, requirements on management of equipment, rules and standards for labour safety, as well as the monitoring of working environment and health care for labourers.

They also underlined practical issues that need to be handled harmoniously to complete labour safety and hygiene policies, notably aid provision of the insurance fund for working place accidents and occupational diseases, and measures to enhance communication work to raise employers’ awareness, among others.

Speaking at the dialogue, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Tan Dung said opinions and queries at the event will contribute to the making and completion of policies on labour safety and hygiene. 

In 2018, about 8,000 occupational accidents occurred nationwide, taking the lives of 1,039 labourers and leaving 1,939 others seriously injured.

Localities with most occupational accident fatalities in the year included Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hai Duong, Thai Nguyen, Yen Bai, Dong Nai, Quang Ninh, Ca Mau, Quang Nam and Binh Duong provinces.

Most of occupational accidents occurred in construction, building materials production, metallurgical engineering, and other fields.

Employers were accountable for nearly 46.5 percent of the total occupational accidents, in which their failure to build safe working practices for employees accounted for 24.56 percent and their failure to fully train safe working practices for employees accounted for 7.2 percent. Meanwhile, employees’ violation of labour safety practices was blamed for 18.42 percent of the total accidents.

Last year, 2 million labourers took periodical health examinations. Occupational deafness was found in 66.6 percent of the labourers, followed by silicosis (16.8 percent), and occupational chronic bronchitis (9.9 percent).