It’s time to improve work safety

Viet Nam is lagging behind many other countries, including most of its neighbours, in occupational safety and health, said Vice Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Bui Hong Linh. According to the ministry, 606 workers died in work-related accidents last year in Viet Nam, almost 10 per cent increase against 2011.

News | 15 March 2013
HANOI (ILO News) – Viet Nam is lagging behind many other countries, including most of its neighbours, in occupational safety and health, said Vice Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Bui Hong Linh.

“It’s time to take action now or it will be too late,” said the Government official at a two-day regional workshop on “Strengthening national occupational safety and health system in hazardous work” which ended in Hanoi today.

According to the ministry, 606 workers died in work-related accidents last year in Viet Nam, almost 10 per cent increase against 2011.

Nearly 6,800 occupational accidents occurred in 2012, resulting in a property loss of VND11 billion (US$524,000) and VND83 billion ($3.95 million) in compensation.

But the reported cases in Viet Nam are “incomplete”, said the Vice Minister Linh who estimated the actual number of occupational accidents per year at around 40,000.

Mining, construction and chemical industry topped the list of sectors with the most occupational accidents and fatal cases.

“Unsafe work conditions in these industries have been causing lots of risks that lead to occupational accidents and diseases,” said ILO National Project Coordinator for occupational safety and health Nguyen Thai Hoa. “And it’s worrying that work accidents and diseases in the industries, particularly mining and construction, tend to increase with more severe impacts.”

The Japanese Government and the ILO have been helping Viet Nam improve the situation in these hazardous industries under a three-year project that started in 2012.

“International cooperation is very important in addressing these issues,” said Vice Minister Linh.

Viet Nam should go beyond workplaces to create increased awareness of occupational safety and health as most of work accidents are traced back to human’s faults. Photo © ILO/A.Santos
 

The workshop, organized by the ministry, the International Social Security Association (ISSA) (ISSA) Mining, the ILO and the ASEAN Occupational Safety and Health Network (ASEAN-OSHNET), offered an opportunity for Viet Nam to learn from its neighbours to strengthen the national occupational safety and health system in hazardous work when the drafting of the national law on occupational safety and health is underway, he added.

As most of work accidents are traced back to human’s faults, ILO Viet Nam Country Director Gyorgy Sziraczki said Viet Nam should go beyond workplaces to create increased awareness of occupational safety and health.

“We must reach out to families, communities and schools where our greatest assets – young people – learn and prepare for work,” he said.

According to the ILO, every 15 seconds, a worker dies from a work-related accident or disease globally. Every 15 seconds, 160 workers have a work-related accident.

The human cost of this daily adversity is vast and the economic burden of poor occupational safety and health practices is estimated at 4 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product each year.