FOREWORD. Doan Minh Hoa DIRECTOR-GENERAL BUREAU FOR SAFE WORK

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2 FOREWORD Occupational safety and health is such a major and important socio-economic policy for sustainable development and human protection that the Party and State give it constant attention. In the first days of the country s foundation, President Ho Chi Minh issued Ordinance No 29/SL dated 13/3/1947 which included basic points of occupational safety and health, work and rest time. These have been revised and supplemented over the subsequent years. The top leaders of the Party and the State have also continuously paid due attention to the topic, and recalled and stressed the importance of implementation of labour protection and occupational safety and health. Over the years, national policies and legal documents on occupational safety and health have been developed and issued. Occupational safety and health-related activities such as publicity, training and legislation dissemination, annual organization of National Week for occupational safety and health and fireexplosion prevention, inspections and checks on occupational safety and health performance, research on labour protection, development of standards, norms and technical processes on occupational safety and health have been carried out with the collaboration of various domestic and foreign agencies and organizations. The development of this national profile is aimed at providing fundamental information on occupational safety and health at the national level, such as policy and guidelines of the Party in occupational safety and health performance, policies, standards and norms, information and reporting system, services and human resources for occupational safety and health... The profile also comprehensively reviews improvements in occupational safety and health gained in Vietnam, at the same time indicates shortcomings and tasks required to achieve occupational safety and health targets in the industrialisation and modernisation process. The national profile has been developed on the basis of the cooperation and provision of information from the relevant Governmental agencies, employees organization, employers organization and other individuals and organizations. The Editorial Board would like to convey sincere thanks to the Government of Japan, the International Labour Organisation, organizations and individuals for their assistance and information provided in the development of the national OSH profile. DIRECTOR-GENERAL BUREAU FOR SAFE WORK Doan Minh Hoa 1

3 ABBREVIATIONS ASEAN OSH OSH Collaborators MOLISA MARD BSPS CIS FAO ILO ISO VCCI VGCL UNDP VOSHA WHO Association of Southeast Asian Nations Occupational safety and health Occupational safety and health collaborators Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Business Sector Program Support Center of Information on Safety Food and Agriculture Organisation International Labour Organisation International Standard Organisation Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vietnam General Confederation of Labour United Nations Development Program Vietnam Occupational Safety and Health Association World Health Organisation 2

4 INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING THE NATIONAL PROFILE ON OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH 1 Doan Minh Hoa 2 Vu Nhu Van Director-General, Bureau for Safe Work, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), Editor in Chief Vice Director-General, Bureau for Safe Work, Head of PMU, RAS/04/M01/JPN project 3 Pham Toan Bureau for Safe Work 4 Tran Thi Van Thu Bureau for Safe Work 5 Vu Nam Binh Bureau for Safe Work 6 Pham Ngoc Hai VOSHA 7 Tran Thi Ngoc Lan 8 Nguyen Huu Cuong Vietnam Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health Department of Science and Technology for Economic-Technical Industries, Ministry of Science and Technology 9 Doan Thi Ninh Vietnam Farmers Association 10 Dang Ngoc Ty Department of Personnel, Ministry of Industry 11 Duong Danh Manh Institute for Labour Science and Social Affairs, MOLISA 12 Nguyen Van At Labour Protection Unit, Vietnam General Confederation of Labour 13 Vu Trong Hoi General Department of Technique, Ministry of Defense 14 Ha Van Hao Department of Personnel, Ministry of Construction 15 Nguyen Manh Cuong Director-General for Socio-Economic and Environmental Programs Centre, Vietnam Cooperative Alliance 16 Doan Thi Thanh Huong 17 Mai Thi Dieu Huyen 18 Hoang Van Ha Bureau for Environmental Protection, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Employers Bureau, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education and Training 19 Do Dang Thang Labour Inspectorate, MOLISA 20 Nguyen Khac Bao Bureau for Agro-forestry Processing and 3

5 Salt Industry, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 21 Vu Thi Hai Yen Department of Service Administration, Ministry of Finance 22 Dang Minh Hoa Board of Family and Social Affairs, Vietnam Women s Union 23 Hoang Van Hung Expert in OSH, former Vice Director of Labour Protection Department, MOLISA 24 Nguyen Thi Thu Huong Bureau for Safe Work, editor 25 Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet Bureau for Safe Work, editor 26 Phan Trong Nghia Vietnam Cooperative Alliance Technical consultancy 27 Dr. Tsuyoshi Kawakami 28 Dr. Yuka Ujita 29 Nguyen Van Theu 30 Ha Thi Minh Duc Senior Specialist in OSH, Subregional Office for East Asia, Bangkok, Thailand Specialist in OSH, Subregional Office for East Asia, Bangkok, Thailand National Project Coordinator, Project Office for OSH in Agriculture Administrative Secretary, Project Office for OSH in Agriculture 4

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. OSH GUIDELINES AND POLICIES IN VIETNAM 1.1- OSH Guidelines and policies of the Party and State 1.2- National OSH policies 1.3- Provisions related to OSH in the national plan on socioeconomic development, Government statements 1.4- A summary of past OSH performance 1.5- A summary of national OSH programmes and plans 1.6- A summary of national tripartite consultative mechanism in terms of OSH 1.7- Priorities in OSH performance 2. LEGAL DOCUMENTS ON OSH IN VIETNAM 2.1- Legislation 2.2- Under-law documents 2.3- Regulations on the functions, duties and powers of labour inspectors 2.4- Regulations on subsidy and compensation for occupational accidents and diseases 2.5- A summary of requirements for recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases 2.6- A summary of OSH requirements in collective labour bargaining 2.7- OSH-related Conventions, standards and norms of the ILO and the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2.8- Challenges, difficulties and obstacles to improving OSH 3. INFORMATION ON NATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE AND RESPONSIBLE BODIES IN THE FIELD OF OSH 3.1- Overview of the organisational structure of the MOLISA and role of relevant central bodies 3.2- An overview of organisational structure and personnel related to OSH at provincial and district levels 3.3- List and capability of major OSH institutes and laboratories; organisations monitoring OSH and working environment 3.4- List of OSH information institutions 3.5- Other organisations and services 4. OSH INSPECTION 4.1- Scope and objectives of OSH inspection 4.2-The number of inspectors in charge of OSH inspections 4.3- Skills and functions of occupational safety and health inspection 4.4- The number of OSH inspections conducted in the past 5 years nationwide 4.5- Types of inspection 5

7 4.6- OSH Training for inspectors 4.7- Preventive inspection policy 4.8- Collaboration with ministries, industries in OSH inspection 4.9- Contents of inspection and working tools used in conducting OSH inspection Difficulties and challenges in OSH 5. COLLABORATION AND COOPERATION MECHANISMS AMONG GOVERNMENT BODIES, REPRESENTATIVE ORGANISATIONS OF EMPLOYERS AND WORKERS 5.1- Collaboration mechanisms among ministries, branches at the national and local levels for the National Council for Labour Protection and national program on labour protection 5.2- Cooperation mechanism of representative organizations of workers and employers at the national, local and enterprise levels 6. OSH TRAINING AND EDUCATION DURING : 6.1- OSH training programs and the number of training courses for civil servants 6.2- Training programmes and the number of OSH training courses for employers 6.3- Training programs and number of OSH training courses for employees 6.4-OSH training activities conducted by representative organizations of employers and employees 6.5-List of OSH-related training courses conducted by universities and technical secondary schools with the number of graduates per annum by each type 6.6-Organizations providing training activities in accordance with the laws 6.7- List and number of experts trained and training requirements 6.8- Institutions providing OSH training 7. OVERVIEW OF NATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCES IN OSH 7.1-Number and the roles of occupational safety specialists/officers in ministries, industries, provinces, Vietnam General Confederation of Labours 7.2- Requirements of qualifications for OSH experts and collaborators/staff 7.3- Legal requirements for occupational safety specialists/officers 7.4- The number of occupational physicians in cities/provinces and their roles in OSH 7.5- Qualifications required for occupational health staff 7.6- Legal requirements for having occupational physicians 7.7- The number of occupational health nurses 6

8 7.8- Qualifications required for occupational health nurses 7.9- Legal requirements for having occupational health nurses Number and roles of occupational hygiene specialists in OSH performance Qualifications required for occupational health experts and staff Legal requirements for having specialists Number and roles of environmental protection specialists in OSH performance Network of OSH collaborators OSH officers and experts in Vietnam Occupational Safety and Health Association (VOSHA) 8. OSH-RELATED STATISTICS AND INFORMATION IN VIETNAM 8.1- Number of undertakings, number of workers and incomes by types of industries 8.2- Number of occupational fatalities per year for the last five years 8.3- Number of reported cases of occupational injuries by cause 8.4- Number of occupational injuries per year for the last five years 8.5- Number of reported cases of occupational diseases in Vietnam 8.6- Number of occupational diseases for the last five years 8.7- Number of occupational safety control measurements recommended 8.8- Number of health examinations conducted Number of occupational hygiene control measurements recommended 8.10-Number of occupational injury cases which received employment injury compensation Number of occupational disease cases which received employment injury compensation List of occupational diseases entitled to compensation, requirements for notification and reporting Allowance for occupational accidents and occupational diseases according to Social Insurance scheme Annual OSH reports and statistics 9. OSH INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN BY EVENTS Summary of national occupational safety and health campaign activities 9.2- Summary of OSH activities in provinces and districts 9.3- Summary of OSH activities at enterprise level 10.SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES ON SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY (SA) OR PRODUCT MANAGEMENT AND 7

9 IMPLEMENTATION OF OSH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM APPROACHES, ISO 9000 AND 14000, OHSAS Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Ministry of Science and Technology Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) 11. LIST OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES Capacity building, technical cooperation activities related to OSH with international organizations Capacity building, technical cooperation in OSH-related activities by bilateral cooperation 12. SPECIALIZED OSH PROGRAMS/ ACTIVITIES Summary of OSH programs/activities in mining and quarrying Summary of OSH programs/activities in construction Summary of OSH programs/activities in small enterprises Summary of OSH programs/activities in agriculture Summary of programs for controlling occupational diseases such as silicosis, asbestosis and poisoning. 13. OSH RESEARCH ACTIVITIES DURING List of research theses Surveys and projects 14. ESSENTIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE PROMOTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES AT NATIONAL LEVEL WITH A VIEW TO STRENGTHENING OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE ANNEXES ANNEXE 1: 13 HARMFUL WORKING CONDITIONS FROM WHICH YOUNG WORKERS ARE PROHIBITED ANNEXE 2: LIST OF 81 OCCUPATIONS PROHIBITING THE EMPLOYMENT OF YOUNG WORKERS ANNEXE 3: LIST OF STATE STANDARDS AND NORMS ON OSH ANNEXE 4: LIST OF ILO CONVENTIONS RATIFIED BY VIETNAM ANNEXE 5: REPORTING FORMS 8

10 TABLE LIST Table 1: The number of OSH inspections Table 3: Training for civil servants, conducted by the MOLISA Table 4: Training and education in silicosis prevention Table 5: Training and education in OSH Table 6: Training in OSH Table 7: Training in safe and effective use of pesticides Table 8: Training for inspectors, 1st and 2nd level - pesticide trading agents nationwide in Table 9: Training to staff and offices conducted by Ministry of NationalDefense Table 10: Training courses for employers, conducted by the MOLISA Table 11: Training and education in silicosis prevention Table 12: Training for employees Table 13: Training and education in silicosis prevention Table 14: Training in safe use of pesticides for farmers Table 15: Training courses for farmers during through a contest on the use of pesticides Table 16: Training courses held by trade union organizations Table 17: Occupational health manpower in centres for preventive medicine of 64 provinces, cities and 13 occupational medicine centres of different industries Table 18: Health care staff in enterprises Table 19: Number of enterprises in operation Table 20: Number of workers and average labour income in state sector by type of economic activity, 2003 Table 21: Occupational fatalities Table 22: Occupational accidents by cause Table 23: Serious occupational injuries Table 24: Situation of occupational diseases in Vietnam during Table 25: Occupational diseases over the last five years Table 26: Situation of Pneumoconiosis in Vietnam during Table 27: Examination of workers' health during Table 28: Working environment supervision results during Table 29: Occupational accidents and occupational diseases compensation 9

11 1. OSH GUIDELINES AND POLICIES IN VIETNAM 1.1- OSH Guidelines and policies of the Party and State Occupational safety and health is a major policy that the Party and State constantly pays due attention. Being aware of the challenges, the social and political importance as well as the benefits of occupational safety and health, President Ho Chi Minh issued Ordinance No 29/SL dated 13/3/1947 on occupational safety and health, work and rest time in the first days of the country s foundation. Directive No 132 issued by the Secretariat of Vietnam Communist Party on 13 March 1959 states that labour protection should directly support and be attached to production. Good protection of the workforce is an important factor to enhance production and disregarding occupational safety is an expression of weak viewpoint towards the masses in production. The political report at the 3rd Party Congress (1960): Every necessary measure should be actively taken to protect labour and ensure safety for the workers. The resolution of the 4th Party Congress (1976): attach the importance to improving working conditions, ensuring occupational safety, keenly preventing occupational accidents, paying attention to occupational hygiene, and protecting the health of the workers. The resolution of the 5th Party Congress (1982): trade union should participate keenly in State work, collaborate closely with State agencies to deal with specific issues related to production conditions, labour protection and labour force strengthening, and to stabilize and ensure the life of workers. The resolution No 04/NQ/TW of Central Party dated 14 January 1993 on the pressing tasks of protection and care for the people s health. The resolution No. 04/NQ/TU of the 7th Central Committee of the Communist Party dated 14/1/1993 on the urgent issues of peoples health care and protection The resolution of the 7th Meeting of Central Committee of the Communist Party (July 1994): create more jobs, improve working conditions, well implement regulations on labour protection, occupational safety, reduce simple hard and hazardous manual labour, seriously comply with regulations on the use of female workers and policies related to female workers, and efficiently prevent occupational diseases. The political report by Central Party at the 8th Party Congress (1996): Create more jobs, improve working conditions and industrial hygiene, and minimize occupational accidents and diseases. Orientations and tasks of socio-economic development in at the 8th Party Congress: Enhance protection of the employees, especially in enterprises 10

12 The document of the 9th Congress of Vietnam Communist Party: pay attention to improving working conditions, ensuring occupational safety and health, preventing occupational accidents and diseases for the workers. The resolution of the 9th Party Congress (2001) on the strategy for socioeconomic development in : Pay attention to ensuring occupational safety. The Resolution no. 46/NQ-TW dated 23 February 2005 by the Political Bureau on protection and care for the people s health in the new situation stresses promptly forecasting, taking preventive measures for minimizing adverse impacts on health from bad environment and working conditions in the industrialization and modernization process Pushing up the prevention of occupational diseases National OSH policies The OSH legal system of Vietnam is reflected in Article 56 of the Vietnamese Constitution (1992): The State issues policies and regulations on labour protection and law on protection of people s health 1989, law on Trade Unions 1990, law on protection of environment 1993, the Labour Code, law on Fire Prevention 2001, amended and supplemented labour code 2002, Ordinance on Plant Protection and Quarantine, and other under-law documents. Additionally, the performance of occupational safety and health in agriculture has been strengthened since the Government s issue of Directive No 20/2004/CT- TTg dated 8 June 2004 on further steering and implementing occupational safety and health in agriculture. The Vietnamese Government ratified the Convention 155 on occupational safety and health and working environment (1981), which stipulates that the countries adopting this convention are responsible for developing and implementing sound national policies on occupational safety and health and working environment 1.3- Provisions related to OSH in the national plan on socio-economic development, Government statements Article 95 of the Labour Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam dated 23 June 1994 stipulates that the Government shall establish a national program on labour protection, occupational safety and hygiene, and put it into the socioeconomic development plans and State budget; Decree No 06/CP dated 20 January 1995 by the government stipulates that MOLISA and Ministry of Health, in collaboration with relevant ministries and branches, develop the national program on labour protection and OSH to submit to the government for approval and inclusion in the socio-economic development plan Directive No 13/1998/CT-TTg dated 26/03/1998 by Prime Minister on further steering and implementing labour protection in the new situation ; accordingly, Government assigns the MOLISA to collaborate with relevant ministries and 11

13 branches to continue to develop the national program on labour protection and initially submit to the Government for approval of objectives on labour protection and implementation plan by 2000 Directive No 20/2004/CT-TTg dated 8/6/2004 by Prime Minister on further steering and implementing occupational safety and health in agriculture stipulates that MARD in collaboration with MOLISA, Ministry of Finance, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, the Vietnam Farmers Association develops the Action plan on occupational safety and health in agriculture and adds this plan to the National Action Program on occupational safety and health and fire-explosion prevention. Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem s speech at the launching ceremony of the 7th National Week for OSH and Fire-explosion prevention: National Action Program 2005 on OSH should be aimed at developing sustainable occupational safety culture 1.4- A summary of past OSH performance Occupational safety and health is an important part of the strategy for human resource development and protection and of the national strategy for sustainable socio-economic development. Over the years, with its shift towards a marketoriented economy, OSH performance has changed positively and gained improvements as follows: State administration of OSH continues to be consolidated. Legal documents on OSH have been supplemented and gradually accomplished. OSH in agriculture has been implemented widely since the issue of the Governmental Directive No 20/2004/CT-TTg dated 8 June 2004 on further steering and implementing OSH in agriculture. Working conditions have been improved. Cleaner production technologies that are environmentally friendly and ensure the workers safety and health have been more popular and widely used; workers have more opportunities to choose better jobs and to work in better conditions. Occupational accidents and diseases have been constrained in the context of rapid production development in scale and variety. Economic damages have been minimized. The application of scientific advances in labour has helped care for and protect the health of workers, relieved the burden of work, increased labour productivity and minimized pollution in the work environment. Research in labour science is associated with scientific and technical developments in production. OSH knowledge has been disseminated to the household economy, handicraft villages and agriculture, with attention paid to potential high risks and hazards related to occupational safety and health. A large number of workers and production and business establishments throughout the country have 12

14 participated in the annual National Week for OSH and Fire-l Explosion Prevention. Therefore, the role of these groups in OSH performance has been improved, helping prevent occupational accidents and minimizing losses from occupational accidents. A number of technical improvement initiatives by workers have helped solve practical problems. - International cooperation in occupational safety and health has been fostered. Technical support, experience sharing and training for officers have proved effective. However, compliance with OSH laws by different levels, branches, employers and employees remains problematic and insufficient. Violation of standards and norms on OSH and fire-explosion prevention is still common, even serious in some places. As yet, investment in improving working conditions and taking measures for prevention of occupational accidents and diseases and fire-explosion at a majority of enterprises have not been given due attention, especially in private production and business establishments, cooperatives and households. On the other hand, propagation for raising awareness is still not vigorous enough while supervision of State relevant agencies is limited. Incentives for good OSH performance in enterprises are not really efficient. Therefore, over the years, occupational accidents and diseases as well as fire-explosions and environmental pollution have become complex and difficult issues. + Occupational accidents tend to increase in quantity and severity. According to annual statistics and reports, there were 403 fatalities due to occupational accidents in 2000, 514 in 2002 and 575 in However, those occurring in agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, handicraft villages and households have been not taken into account. + Occupational diseases: the number of newly-contracted occupational disease cases per annum is still high and is not decreasing. Most of the workers, 74.5%, suffer from silicosis and bronchitis. By the end of 2004, there were accumulatively 21,597 occupational disease cases. However, as facilities for occupational disease checks are not available in some localities and enterprises, the actual number of occupational disease cases is estimated to be eight times higher than the reported figure. In 2004, there were 4,009 agro-chemical poisoning cases involving 10,355 people (up 22% over 2003); thousands of workers suffered from food poisoning at canteens. Material losses were estimated at hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong. + Fire-explosion: in 2003, Vietnam reported 2,519 fires nationwide. In the first 10 months of 2004, there were 2,023 fires, causing a loss of 270,461 billion dongs. 13

15 Main causes of the above situation: - The OSH State administration apparatus has a proven lack of consistency between functions, duties and staff capacity. Therefore, the operational efficiency has been limited. Only 400 officers at both central and local levels have been involved in State administration over OSH performance across the existing 160,000 enterprises and 2.6 million households. The labour inspection system that has been newly-integrated from occupational safety inspection, occupational health inspection and labour policy inspection is still limited in profession and capability. Technical facilities for administration and inspection are insufficient and out-dated. - OSH mechanisms and policies have failed to keep pace with the socio-economic development of the country and have failed to encourage employers to comply adequately with OSH regulations. For example, Vietnam still lacks mechanisms and incentives for investments in improving working conditions, using clean and advanced technologies to minimize workplace environmental pollution and to protect workers. Standards and norms on OSH and fire-explosion prevention are insufficient, even inappropriate, especially those on management of new machinery, equipment, materials and technologies. The development of OSH technical standards have also failed to keep up with the speed and variety of development of the industrialization and modernization processes. - Activities of information, publicity, education and training on OSH and fireexplosion prevention are not consistent with requirements for OSH performance in the modern era. Information and publicity activities to raise awareness of OSH are not regular and widespread and do not receive appropriate investment. Dissemination and guidance of legal documents by ministries, branches and localities to grassroots levels do in fact reach administrative agencies, but not enterprises, particularly private ones. Education and training in OSH are not controlled in terms of quality and are not comprehensively implemented. Training for workers is still formalistic and is not visual. A number of enterprises and establishments do not even provide OSH training for newlyrecruited workers. Moreover, teaching capabilities and qualifications of officers involved in training are limited. Meanwhile, the cadre of full-time OSH teachers at schools is still weak. Most of them are part-time teachers and are not trained in OSH. Textbooks and training materials on OSH for educational levels are also unavailable... As a result, a majority of graduates from schools lack fundamental knowledge of OSH. Thus, labourers do not know how to protect themselves from risks of occupational accidents, sickness and diseases, and employers do not understand their responsibilities and the benefits of OSH performance. - Compliance with OSH regulations in many branches, localities and enterprises is not taken seriously, resulting in some avoidance of duties and responsibilities; employers investment in improving working conditions and preventing 14

16 occupational accidents and diseases is inadequate. The handling of violations is not strict A summary of national OSH programmes and plans - Target program on labour protection ( ) approved by the Government; the national action programme on accident and injury prevention, including OSH items. - National policy on prevention of occupational accidents and injuries in in Decision No 197/2001/QD-TTg dated 17 December 2001 sets the target of 30% reduction in the number of occupational accidents by 2010 in comparison with the year 2000, stressing improving environmental hygiene and working conditions and surmounting risks in order that every worker can live and work in a safe environment. - Decision No 35/2001/QD-TTg dated 19 March 2001 on approving and issuing the strategy for protection and care for the people s health in Economic development strategy in for some spearhead industries is reflected in the 9th Party Congress Document: - Increase labour productivity and product quality to strengthen economic growth through investment in and modernization of technology, contributing to the improvement of working conditions and liberation of labour force, including: the programme on electrifying, mechanizing, applying new and clean technologies and controlling the use of toxic chemicals for agricultural production; the programme on investing in renewing and updating technologies to increase productivity, quality and effectiveness in industry. The Government decided that some existing factories which were run-down, out-dated, ineffective, did not ensure occupational safety and caused environmental pollution should be replaced with new modernized ones. These factories were in the garment and textile, chemicals, engineering, electricity and mining sectors. - Develop and implement the strategy for strengthening health at work through the campaign healthy workplace : Launch and run this campaign at every enterprise and every economic sector in order to protect the health of workers; reorganize healthcare services; gradually develop a manual on strengthening health at work. - The national action program on occupational disease prevention, especially silicosis, aimed at improving knowledge on the prevention and detection of occupational silicosis, contributing to a reduction in the rate of infected cases and gradually wiping out the disease. The target during is to develop a training strategy and model to raise awareness of silicosis and of preventive measures; provide training to trainers at enterprises to rapidly implement training and broadcast activities at high-risk establishments. - Campaigns of green productivity and of clean technology transfer: helping combine programmes and activities to improve working conditions and ensure OSH with the national strategy for environmental protection in ; 15

17 helping domestic entrepreneurs to access information on green, clean production. - Launch major nationwide publicity campaigns on OSH and fire-explosion prevention through the national week for OSH and fire-explosion prevention in order to broadly attract the involvement of everyone; launch competitions responding to the campaign green, clean, beautiful and safe workplace A summary of national tripartite consultative mechanism in terms of OSH With the motto of ensuring sustainable and rapid economic growth of the country in line with factual changes, the Government of Vietnam has established legal frameworks for a tripartite mechanism involving the Government, employers representative and workers representative bodies aimed at regulating and harmonizing the benefits of each party, particularly in the field of OSH. Most of the OSH activities, from developing legal documents to developing and implementing national target programs, national action programs, workshops and conferences, involve tripartite representatives of government, employers and workers. The tripartite consultative mechanism in terms of OSH is clearly stipulated in the Labour Code, in the Law on Trade Union and some other legal documents. In Vietnam, the representative organizations of workers are Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and Vietnam Farmers Association; representative organizations of employers are Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Vietnam Cooperative Alliance. - Quoting some regulations on the tripartite consultative mechanism in the field of OSH from the Labour Code: Item 2, Article 10: The State shall provide guidelines for employees and employers to establish harmonious and stable labour relationships and mutual cooperation for the development of enterprises. Article 106: Occupational disease is the disease caused by the effect of harmful conditions of work on the employee. A list of occupational diseases is jointly issued by the Ministry of Health and the MOLISA, in consultation with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and representatives of employers ; Item 2, Article 169: The Labour Arbitration Council at provincial level consists of full-time and part-time members who are representatives of the labour office, the trade union, the employers and some prestige lawyers, administrators and social activist in the locality. The membership of the Arbitration Council shall be in odd number but not exceed nine members, and shall be chaired by the representative of the provincial authority on labour. Article 174 has stipulations for public service, essential and security-defense enterprises as shown in a Government list: the competent authorities are required to organize periodic consultations with representatives of the workers collective and the employer at these enterprises in order to provide prompt assistance and response to legitimate demands of the workers collective. Where a collective 16

18 labour dispute occurs, it shall be settled by the Labour Arbitration Council at provincial level. If either party does not agree with the award of the Labour Arbitration Council, that party has the right to request the People s Court to settle the dispute. - Quoting some regulations on the tripartite consultative mechanism in the field of OSH from the Law on Trade Union: The Vietnam General Confederation of Labour has organized its system from the central to local levels and enterprises. Being a representative for employees, its responsibility is to collaborate with State agencies to research and apply scientific and technical progress in labour protection, to develop standards and norms on occupational safety and industrial hygiene, to educate and encourage workers to comply seriously with regulations on labour protection and environmental protection, to inspect for compliance with regulations on labour protection. On detecting signs of danger to workers at workplaces, the trade union has the right to request responsible people to take immediate measures for ensuring occupational safety, even to stop the operation if necessary, to participate in investigating occupational accidents, and to ask State administrative agencies or courts to treat those responsible for the accident pursuant to the laws. Article 6: 1. Trade union collaborates with State agencies to research and apply scientific and technical progress in labour protection, to develop standards and norms on occupational safety and industrial hygiene. 2. Trade union takes responsibility for educating and encouraging workers to comply seriously with regulations on labour protection and environmental protection. 3. Trade union inspects the compliance with regulations on labour protection; once detecting signs of danger to workers at workplaces, trade union has the right to request responsible people to take immediate measures for ensuring occupational safety, even stop the operation if necessary. 4. Investigation into occupational accidents should be participated in by trade union. Trade union has the right to ask State administrative agencies or courts to deal with, pursuant to the laws, the people responsible for the accident. - Quoting some regulations on the tripartite mechanism from the Government s Decree No 41/CP dated 06/7/1995 stipulating in detail and guiding the implementation of some articles on working discipline and material responsibility in the Labour Code: Article 11, item 3: the decision on settling violations of working discipline: Competent persons can settle violations of work discipline by dismissing or moving the violators to another job with a lower salary; and should make a decision in writing indicating the discipline duration. The case for dismissal should have a consensus from the trade union at grass-root level. Otherwise, the trade union grassroot level should report to higher-level trade union while the 17

19 employer should report to the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. The employer can make an official decision on the discipline and take responsibility for their decision only 30 days after their report to the Department Some regulations on tripartite mechanism at central level - Competent agencies responsible for making policies and strategies on labour protection organize discussions with representative organizations of workers and employers prior to the issue. Members of the national council for labour protection include tripartite representatives of the Government, employer and worker; - The State carries out scientific and technical research into OSH, provides a budget to trade unions (specifically the National Institute for Labour Protection under Vietnam General Confederation of Labour) to research OSH technical issues and makes OSH policies. - The government has periodical meetings with the presidium of Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and Vietnam Farmers Association twice a year to review commitments between the government and trade union, farmers association, and to hear opinions and petitions on issues related to workers rights, industrial relations and OSH from these two societies. - The MOLISA has periodical meetings with Vietnam General Confederation of Labour twice a year to review its relationship with the confederation and to hear recommendations and petitions on issues related to workers rights, industrial relations and OSH from the confederation. - Every year, the MOLISA and Ministry of Health collaborate with Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and provincial confederations of labour to inspect the implementation of OSH at enterprises and establishments. - State agencies, in collaboration with representative organizations of employers and workers, steer and organize information and publicity activities and others during the national week for OSH and fire-explosion prevention. - In Vietnam there are some organizations representative of employers such as Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vietnam Cooperative Alliance and some other societies. When developing policies on OSH and fire-explosion prevention, Government agencies should consult these representative organizations and select their appropriate partner depending on their specific case Some regulations on tripartite mechanism at local and enterprise levels - The local specialized administrative agencies are responsible for disseminating legal documents on OSH and fire-explosion, issued by competent agencies, to enterprises, business and production establishments in their locality; giving guidance, monitoring and inspecting the implementation; reporting to competent agencies on time shortcomings during their implementation of the Government s policies. 18

20 - Employers are responsible for implementing this regulation at their enterprise in consultation with worker s representative; - Provincial labour confederation shall join with competent agencies to implement, give guidance, supervise and propagate the compliance with OSH regulations. Workers representative at enterprises shall contribute their opinions to employers to establish rules related to OSH and plans on labour protection, make assessments on the implementation of State regulations on labour protection, organize activities to ensure OSH and provide refresher training to safety and health officers in collaboration with other organizations, participate in inspections and evaluations on labour protection at enterprises, make recommendations for solutions to shortcomings, attend review meetings held by inspectors on labour protection and occupational accidents. - Local Department of Labour in collaboration with provincial labour confederation settles labour disputes at enterprises in the locality. - In annual review meetings on labour protection, assessments on tripartite activities in this field for lessons and solutions to improve the effectiveness of this mechanism should be included. - The labour protection council at enterprise level should involve competent persons who are representatives of employers, trade union, labour protection officers and health officers. Of these, the representative of the employer should be the chairperson of this council while the representative of the enterprise s trade union should be the vice chairperson. - The provincial council for labour arbitration includes full-time and parttime members who are representatives of labour agencies, trade union, employer and some lawyers, managers, prestigious social activists in the locality... - For public service and enterprises essential to the national economy or security-defense, State administrative agencies should hold periodical meetings to listen to opinions from representatives of employees and employers at these enterprises in order to give them immediate help and deal with their legitimate requirements Priorities in OSH performance - Revising, supplementing and accomplishing the system of legal documents on OSH; establishing incentives to perform OSH activities; studying and developing standards and norms on OSH to be in line with the development of science and technology. - Enhancing State administration over OSH in households, handicraft villages, small and medium industrial parks and agricultural areas. 19

21 - Renewing State labour inspections, boosting self-inspections and supervision over OSH; establishing and consolidating specialized inspections on OSH in typical fields. - Enhancing capacity of the cadre of OSH officers; appropriately investing in infrastructure and equipment for OSH administrative activities. - Consolidating and setting up a system of periodical statistics and reports on occupational accidents and diseases. - Further researching and applying OSH science and technology. - Boosting OSH training and teaching activities, initially building up OSH Training Centres in order to provide short-term training courses to employers, employees; enhancing OSH teaching capacity of vocational schools, universities and technical secondary schools. - Accelerating OSH publicity programs via mass media; developing a national OSH information network. - Consolidating sanatoria and hospitals for workers. 20

22 2. LEGAL DOCUMENTS ON OSH IN VIETNAM 2.1- Legislation No Legislation 1 Vietnamese Constitution (1992) Article 56 2 Law on People s Health Protection 1989; 3 Law on Trade Union 1990; 4 Law on Environmental Protection Labour Code 1994; 6 Law on Fire Prevention Amended Labour Code 2002; 8 Ordinance on Plant Protection and Quarantine Law on Construction Law on Electricity Under-law documents List of competent agencies involved in issuing under-law documents on OSH No Agencies Types of document 1 Government Decrees, Decisions, Directives 2 The MOLISA Issue legal documents, policies and regulations on labour protection, occupational safety and health; formulate, issue and administer the system of State norms on OSH, labour classification standards by working conditions. 3 Minsitry of Health Issue and administer legal documents, the system of standards on occupational hygiene and health for professions and jobs 4 Ministry of Science and Technology 5 Other Ministries, branches 6 Provincial and municipal People s Committees Issue the system of quality standards and specifications of PPEs; formulate, issue and uniformly administer the system of State technical standards on OSH in cooperation with the MOLISA and Ministry of Health. Issue and give guidance for applying the system of OSH standards and norms at the industrial level, which require the participation of the MOLISA if they are related to occupational safety and of the Ministry of Health of they are related to occupational hygiene. Issue directives and guidelines for State administration over OSH in their localities. (stipulated in the Law on Issuing Legal Documents, Labour Code, Decree No 06/CP dated 20/1/1995 and Decree No 110/2002/ND dated 27/12/2002) 21

23 Regulations issued by the Government No Documents Contents 1 Government Decree N 0 195/CP dated 31 December 1994 elaborating provisions and providing guidance for the enforcement of relevant stipulation of the Labour Code on working time and rest time; Decree No 109/2002/ND- CP dated 27/12/2002 by the Government on revisions, supplements some articles of the Decree no. 195/CP on 31/12/1994 on working time and rest time 2 Government Decree No 06/CP dated 20/1/1995 elaborating some provisions of the Labour Code on Occupational safety and health. Decree of the Government No.110/2002/ND-CP dated 27 December 2002 on amending and supplementing some articles of the Governmental Decree No.06/CP dated 20 January 1995 regulating in details some provisions of the Labour Code on Occupational Safety and Health 3 Decree No 113/2004/ND- CP dated 16/4/2004 by the Government on fining violations of labour laws - Stipulates that the time for work shall not exceed 8 hours per day and shall not exceed 48 hours per week - Daily working hours shall be reduced by one to two hours in extremely hard, harmful, or hazardous work as indicated on the list issued by the MOLISA and the Ministry of Health - Extra working hours cannot exceed 50% of the daily working hours; the total of over-time hours may not exceed 200 hours in a year. In special cases, the total of over-time hours may not exceed 300 hours in a year. - Establish feasibility report on OSH measures - Provide PPEs in accordance with legal regulations and required quality - Provide health checks for workers once a year and for those exposed to hard and hazardous jobs every six months. - Provide training in OSH. - Register for verification before using machinery, equipment and materials with strict OSH requirements. - Fine Vietnamese individuals and organizations violating labour laws, who are not criminals. To this extent they shall be fined in the Vietnamese territory in 22

24 4 Directive No 13/CT-TTg dated 26/3/1998 by Prime Minister on further steering and implementing labour protection task in the new period of time 5 Decree No 58/2002/ND- CP dated 3/6/2002 by the Government 6 Decree No 26/2003/ND- CP dated 19/3/2003 by the Government accordance with the laws. - Foreign individuals and organisations violating labour laws in Vietnamese territory shall also be regulated by third Decree (except the case that International conventions ratified by Vietnam introduce different stipulations) - The MOLISA in collaboration with the Ministry of Health reviews, supplements and completes guiding documents on labour protection, particularly norms on OSH; consolidates and improves the effectiveness of OSH inspection system. - The MOLISA collaborates with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and relevant Ministries, branches to develop the National program on labour protection, occupational safety and health - The Ministry of Health makes amendments and supplements to the standards on occupational hygiene, develops health standards, provides health checks for workers exposed to hard, hazardous and dangerous jobs, and improves the efficiency of first aid services for occupational accidents. - The implementation of labour protection shall be reviewed and assessed for remuneration every year. Regulations on Management of Agrochemicals Fining violations in the field of plant protection and quarantine 23

25 7 Directive No 20/2004/CT- TTg by Prime Minister dated 8 June 2004 on the strengthening of steering and implementing occupational safety and health in agriculture 8 Decision No 40/2005/QD- TTg dated 28 February by Prime Minister on the Establishment of the National Council for Labour Protection -Continue to accomplish legal documents related to the implementation of occupational safety and health in agriculture - Enhance the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases -Boost information and publicity activities in order to raise awareness of employers and employees of regulations, standards, safety procedures, occupational accident prevention measures when using machinery, equipment, and agrochemicals in agriculture - Strengthen international cooperation in occupational safety and health in agriculture. - Enhance inspection and examination by observing OSH regulations in agriculture - The National Council for Labour Protection gives the Prime Minister consultations on guidelines, direction, mechanism and policy and collaborates with ministries and industries in the field of labour protection; measures to steer and operate the implementation of guidelines, policies and national program on labour protection; being focal point for collaboration among ministries, industries and unions in the field of labour protection in order to ensure occupational safety and health and improved working conditions 24