Workplace accidents highest in labor intensive industry grouping

The grouping made up 14.2 percent of accident cases, followed by mining and mineral exploitation at 13.3 percent, according to a Wednesday report released by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Building materials production came next with 10.6 percent, followed by construction with 9.7 percent and mechanics and metallurgy with 6.2 percent.

The TCLF industries also accounted for the highest number of occupational fatalities, at 13.7 percent, followed by mining and mineral exploitation at 12.8 percent and construction at 10.3 percent, the report said.

6,600 people died in 6,500 occupational accidents last year, a drop from 8,610 deaths from 8,380 accidents in 2020.

The accidents, which also left 19,000 others injured, cost employersVND4 trillion ($175 million), including asset damages, compensation for victims and hospital fees.

HCMC and its neighboring provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong, the capital city of Hanoi, the northern provinces of Hai Duong, Quang Ninh and Thai Nguyen and the central province of Thanh Hoa accounted for most of the occupational accidents last year.

The report said that the cause of occupational accidents in most cases was employers not paying enough attention to the regulations on risk management and control; and workers lacking knowledge and safety skills when working.

The report also said workers’ physical and mental health has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Given the situation that a number of laborers have contracted Covid-19, employers should organize routine health checkups to see if they are still healthy enough to work overtime, said Ha Tat Thang, head of the ministry’s Department of Work Safety.

With Vietnamese lawmakers deciding to increase the monthly overtime cap of a worker from 40 to 60 hours and the annual cap from 200 hours to 300 hours for almost all sectors starting Apr. 1, Thang noted that the cap is “optional”. It is only with the consent of workers can employers have them work overtime, he stressed.