Ms. Tran Thi Quynh studied Articles 7 and 8 of Circular No. 17/2021/TT-BLDTBXH related to the technical safety inspection process of industrial gas cylinders. She understood that, in the case of cylinder inspection at the facility, the inspection must be directly performed/operated on the equipment by the inspector of the organization that has the certificate of that inspection activity. Other individuals (representatives of the facility and those assigned to participate in witnessing) will only be responsible for supervising/witnessing but not directly participating in performing the inspection operations.

Ms. Quynh asked, is the above understanding correct? Is it against the provisions of Circular No. 17/2021/TT-BLDTBXH or the law to allow an individual, even though he/she has knowledge of the inspection process, to directly conduct technical inspections (external and internal technical inspections, volume expansion, tightness testing, gas discharge and vacuuming, etc.) on cylinders, and for the inspector to directly supervise the inspection of cylinders by that individual?

According to Clause 1, Article 4 of Decree No. 44/2016/ND-CP (amended and supplemented in Clause 1, Article 1 of Decree 140/2018/ND-CP), the conditions for granting a certificate of eligibility for technical inspection of labor safety include: ensuring equipment and tools for inspection; having at least 2 inspectors working under contract, etc.; the person in charge of technical inspection activities of the organization must have worked as an inspector for at least 2 years.

Thus, Ms. Quynh understands that if a 100% foreign-invested enterprise meets all the above conditions, it can still apply for a Certificate of Occupational Safety Technical Inspection Activities and after obtaining the certificate, this foreign-invested enterprise can conduct the gas cylinder inspection itself and make an inspection report. Ms. Quynh asks, is her understanding correct or incorrect?

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Home Affairs responded as follows:

Pursuant to Article 16 of Decree No. 44/2016/ND-CP dated May 15, 2016 of the Government and Article 8 of the Technical Safety Inspection Procedure for Gas Cylinders (QTKĐ:06-2021/BLDTBXH) issued together with Circular No. 17/2021/TT-BLDTBXH dated November 15, 2021 of the Minister of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, the technical safety inspection of gas cylinders must be fully performed by inspectors, in turn, following the prescribed steps.

Therefore, allowing users to directly perform technical operations (external and internal inspection, volume expansion, tightness testing, gas discharge, vacuuming, etc.) as reflected in the opinion instead of inspectors is not in accordance with the provisions of the Technical Safety Inspection Procedure for Gas Cylinders (QTKĐ: 06-2021/BLĐTBXH) mentioned above.

Based on the provisions of Clause 1, Article 32 of the Law on Labor Safety and Hygiene 2015: "Organizations for technical safety inspection activities are public service units or enterprises providing technical safety inspection services", it does not stipulate that organizations for technical safety inspection activities are Vietnamese enterprises or foreign-invested enterprises.

Therefore, to be granted a Certificate of eligibility to conduct occupational safety technical inspection, the organization must ensure the conditions specified in Clause 1, Article 4 of Decree No. 44/2016/ND-CP dated May 15, 2016 (amended and supplemented in Clause 1, Article 1 of Decree No. 140/2018/ND-CP dated October 8, 2018) of the Government.

However, to be able to conduct occupational safety technical inspection, the inspection organization granted a Certificate of eligibility to conduct occupational safety technical inspection must ensure independence and objectivity in providing inspection services as prescribed in Clause 4, Article 15 of Decree No. 44/2016/ND-CP.