Hanoi(VNA) – A ceremony to launch a month-long national campaign on preventingoccupational risks to reduce accidents is scheduled for May 6 on Nguyen Huepedestrian street in Ho Chi Minh City.
As heard at apress conference on the campaign in Hanoi on April 18, it will featureinspections of sectors prone to accidents, meetings, training courses,conferences, forums, and painting exhibitions.
At the pressconference, Nguyen Anh Tho, deputy head of the Bureau for Safe Work under theMinistry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), said annual communicationsprogrammes like this have contributed to limiting the number of work-relatedaccidents and diseases.
He said awarenessof public agencies, employers and employees has been improved, particularlyafter the National Assembly’s Law on Occupational Safety and Health took effecton July 1, 2016.
The number ofaccidents in high-risk occupations is declining, the official added, citing theVietnam National Coal – Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) and Electricity ofVietnam (EVN) as examples. According to him, in 2017, Vinacomin recorded 16deadly accidents, an annual decrease of six cases, while EVN Northern PowerCorporation saw only two accidents taking place with no one killed.
Tho attributed theupbeat outcomes to safety management practices, which are capable ofcontrolling risks to workers’ safety.
According tostatistics released by the MoLISA, 8,956 occupational accidents occurred inVietnam last year, affecting 9,173 people, of which 928 died.
Ho Chi Minh City recordedthe highest number of work-related fatalities, with 123, followed by Hanoi,with 66.
A report from theHealth Environment Management Agency showed that nearly 300,000 peoplecontacting harmful factors at work engaged in medical examinations foroccupational diseases. Of the total, more than 38,000 received positive testresults.-VNA
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