Decision No. 233/2006/QĐ-TTg Approves the National Program on Labor Protection, Occupational Safety, and Hygiene until 2010

Pursuant to …;

Approving the National Program on labor protection, occupational safety, and hygiene until 2010,

occupational safety and labor hygiene until 2010

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;
Pursuant to the Labor Code dated June 23, 1994; Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Labor Code dated April 2, 2002;
Considering the proposal of the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, and the Minister of Planning and Investment,,

DECISION:

Article 1. Approving the National Program on labor protection, occupational safety, and hygiene until 2010, including the following contents:

I. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAM

1. General objectives:

Improving working conditions, reducing environmental pollution at workplaces; preventing work accidents and occupational diseases; caring for workers' health; raising awareness and compliance with laws on labor protection; ensuring the safety of workers' lives, state property, enterprise property, and organizational property; contributing to sustainable national development.

2. Specific objectives by 2010:

- Reducing serious work accidents resulting in fatalities; annually reducing the frequency of work accidents in high-risk sectors by 5% (mining, construction, electricity usage);

- Annually reducing the number of newly diagnosed occupational diseases by 10%; ensuring that over 80% of workers in workplaces with occupational disease risks undergo occupational disease screening;

- Ensuring that all workers confirmed to have suffered work accidents or occupational diseases receive treatment, health care, and functional recovery;

- Over 80% of workers in occupations requiring strict occupational safety and hygiene, and staff involved in occupational safety and hygiene work, receive training on occupational safety and hygiene;

- Ensuring that all fatal work accidents and severe work accidents are investigated and handled.

II. TIME FRAME AND SCOPE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAM

1. Implementation period of five years, from 2006 to 2010.

2. Nationwide implementation scope.

III. CONTENTS OF THE PROGRAM'S ACTIVITIES

The National Program on labor protection, occupational safety, and hygiene includes seven main contents as follows:

1. Activities to enhance the effectiveness of state management in labor protection, including: perfecting the model of state management in labor protection and occupational safety and hygiene; developing and perfecting policies on labor protection; conducting comprehensive surveys on work accidents; enhancing the capacity of inspection, supervision, and monitoring systems for occupational safety; establishing models for occupational safety and hygiene management in enterprises; establishing a compensation fund for work accidents and occupational diseases; reinforcing, investing in, and building new facilities for rehabilitation of workers suffering from work accidents and occupational diseases; building international cooperation programs in technical assistance and training on occupational safety and hygiene.

2. Activities to improve working conditions in enterprises, prevent and control work accidents, focusing on high-risk areas such as mining, electricity usage, construction, small and medium-sized enterprises, agricultural production, and rural areas; minimizing toxic substance exposure during storage, maintenance, repair, and disposal of equipment for security and defense purposes.

3. Activities to prevent and control occupational diseases, care for health, and restore work capacity, including: strengthening surveillance, control, and containment of common occupational diseases; enhancing workplace environment monitoring to effectively control factors and risks causing occupational diseases; improving and strengthening the work of detecting, diagnosing, assessing, treating occupational diseases, and restoring function; investing in upgrading facilities for detecting and treating occupational diseases; researching, revising, and supplementing regulations on occupational disease benefits and adding to the list of occupational diseases; enhancing education and publicity about the risks and hazards of occupational diseases.

4. Activities to raise awareness and responsibility among management levels, organizations, and individuals through enhancing capacity and organizing information dissemination, education, and training activities (building a website on labor protection, occupational safety, and hygiene, organizing National Occupational Safety and Health Week, investigating information needs and training requirements...) and promoting mass movements in labor protection work.

5. Research and application of science and technology in labor protection, occupational safety, and hygiene to improve working conditions, handle occupational environmental pollution in production industries, especially high-risk sectors to reduce occupational diseases (coal and mineral extraction, metallurgy, fertilizers, chemicals, construction...), while applying safety measures to minimize work accidents for workers operating high-risk equipment and machinery.

6. Activities of ministries, sectors, enterprises, and business establishments in formulating labor protection, occupational safety, and hygiene programs and plans suitable to their operational, production, and business characteristics, focusing on improving working conditions, preventing work accidents, and controlling occupational diseases, moving towards better implementation of occupational safety and hygiene work and building a culture of safety in labor.

7. Activities of evaluation, inspection, and supervision to assess the program's effectiveness according to each project.

IV. PROJECTS OF THE PROGRAM

1. Enhancing the capacity and effectiveness of state management in labor protection.

2. Improving working conditions in enterprises, focusing on reducing work accidents in the mining, electricity usage, and construction sectors.

3. Strengthening prevention of work accidents and occupational diseases in agricultural production and rural industries.

4. Enhancing the quality of labor protection work in small and medium-sized enterprises.

5. Strengthening prevention and control of occupational diseases.

6. Propaganda, education, training to enhance awareness at all levels, sectors, organizations, and individuals, and to mobilize the role of the masses in labor protection work.

7. Enhance research capacity on the application of science and technology for occupational safety and health.

V. SOURCES OF FUNDS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

The total budget allocated for the Program is 242 billion VND.

Where:

- 232 billion VND for projects;

- 10 billion VND for management and supervision activities.

VI. SOLUTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE PROGRAM

1. Solutions regarding policies and mechanisms

a) Regarding policies

- Continue implementing and institutionalizing the Party and State's guidelines on labor protection; amend and supplement the content on occupational safety and health in the Labor Code; draft the Law on Occupational Safety and Health; establish a compensation fund for workplace accidents and occupational diseases;

- Develop policies to encourage enterprises to improve working conditions;

- Study and perfect policies on rewarding and handling violations of laws on occupational safety and health;

- Study and develop policies and mechanisms to encourage the development of advisory, inspection, training, and occupational safety and health services.

b) Regarding mechanisms

- Funding allocation mechanism: funds are allocated annually according to projects for ministries and sectors responsible for the projects and used in accordance with state regulations;

- Coordination mechanism: strengthen the participation of citizens and mass organizations in all program activities, from planning implementation, resource management, monitoring, and evaluation to benefiting from project outcomes;

- Integration mechanism: project contents are integrated with other related activities;

- Monitoring and evaluation mechanism:

+ Utilize comprehensive monitoring and evaluation systems: self-monitoring and evaluation by ministries and sectors responsible for projects; monitoring and evaluation by state agencies by topic (not by project) or overall program; independent monitoring and evaluation by consulting and scientific organizations; process monitoring and evaluation by organizations representing employers and workers;

+ Input and impact monitoring and evaluation through project activity implementation assessments and indicators.

- Procurement and bidding mechanism: applied to all projects to ensure efficiency and transparency (such as providing work equipment for occupational safety and health officers, investing in upgrading facilities for labor rehabilitation, detecting occupational diseases...).

2. Management, operation, and organization of implementation

a) Management and operation

- Establish a Steering Committee to assist the Prime Minister in directing, inspecting, guiding, urging ministries, sectors, and localities, and coordinating program activities.

- Members of the Steering Committee include:

+ Chairman: Minister of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs;

+ Deputy Chairmen: Vice Minister of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs serving as permanent deputy chairman; representatives of the General Confederation of Trade Unions of Vietnam and the Ministry of Health serving as deputy chairmen;

+ Members: representatives of the Ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance, National Defense, Public Security, Science and Technology, Agriculture and Rural Development, Industry, Construction, Education and Training, Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Invite representatives of the Vietnam Federation of Trade Unions, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Vietnam Farmers' Association to participate in the Steering Committee.

- The Chairman of the Steering Committee decides to establish a Management Board to assist the Steering Committee.

b) Plan implementation of the program

- Activities on labor protection must be included in the annual plans of ministries, sectors, localities, and enterprises;

- Plans for labor protection must be linked to the economic and social development plans of ministries, sectors, and localities;

- Conduct mid-year and annual reviews, summaries, and publicly announce the results of program implementation through mass media.

c) Relevant ministries and sectors shall develop plans to implement guidance to localities on labor protection activities and projects assigned according to their functions and responsibilities.

VII. RESPONSIBILITIES OF AGENCIES IMPLEMENTING THE PROGRAM

1. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Health, the General Confederation of Trade Unions of Vietnam, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education and Training, and relevant ministries and sectors to organize the implementation of the Program; draft and implement annual plans; coordinate Program activities; guide, inspect, supervise, and annually compile and report to the Prime Minister on the situation; organize mid-term and final evaluations of Program implementation; establish a compensation fund for workplace accidents and occupational diseases; implement the project to enhance the capacity and effectiveness of state management of labor protection and the project on propaganda, education, training to raise awareness at all levels, sectors, organizations, and individuals, and to mobilize the role of the masses in labor protection work.

2. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to balance and allocate annual financial plans for Program implementation based on consensus with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs in accordance with current regulations; take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs and relevant ministries and sectors to guide localities on integrating related programs with the national program on labor protection, occupational safety, and health on the same territory from planning to implementation.

3. The Ministry of Finance shall coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to allocate budgets for ministries, sectors, and localities to implement the Program in accordance with the State Budget Law and guiding documents for the implementation of the National Target Program; take the lead in guiding financial management mechanisms for Program projects; coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs to draft guidance documents, inspect, and supervise Program implementation.

4. The Ministry of Health shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, relevant ministries and sectors, and localities to implement the project on enhancing prevention and control of occupational diseases.

5. The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Construction shall take the lead within their respective functions and tasks and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Health, and relevant ministries and sectors to implement the project on improving working conditions in enterprises, focusing on reducing workplace accidents in the mining, electricity usage, and construction sectors.

6. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, and relevant ministries and sectors to develop, promulgate, and uniformly manage the system of technical standards and regulations for labor safety; occupational hygiene; promulgate the system of technical standards and regulations, quality, specifications of personal protective equipment in the workplace; implement scientific research topics related to labor safety and hygiene.

7. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Vietnam Farmers' Union, and relevant ministries and sectors to implement the project on enhancing preventive measures against workplace accidents and occupational diseases in agricultural production and rural trades.

8. The Ministry of Education and Training shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to carry out education on labor safety, hygiene, and the environment for students.

9. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and relevant ministries and sectors to organize and implement activities to disseminate information, raise awareness, and educate through mass media about labor protection, labor safety, and occupational hygiene.

10. The Ministry of National Defense shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Health, and relevant ministries and sectors to implement activities to improve working conditions and reduce exposure to toxic substances from the storage, maintenance, repair, and disposal of technical equipment for security and defense purposes.

11. People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities shall proactively coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to participate in the activities of the Program.

12. It is requested that the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and relevant ministries and sectors to organize and implement scientific research, enhance the effectiveness of mass movements on labor protection, labor safety, and hygiene during industrialization and modernization; implement the project on enhancing research capabilities in applying science and technology for labor safety and hygiene.

13. It is requested that the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Vietnam Federation of Trade Unions, within their respective functions and tasks, coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Health, and relevant ministries and sectors to implement the project on improving the quality of labor protection work in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Article 2. This Decision shall take effect fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette.

Article 3. The Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of government agencies, Chairpersons of provincial People's Committees under the direct jurisdiction of the central government shall be responsible for implementing this Decision./.