In general, the law on occupational safety and hygiene is being increasingly improved and completed in the direction of best protecting the legitimate rights and interests of workers; at the same time, there are more and more regulations specifying Vietnam's international commitments in the field of ensuring occupational safety and hygiene. However, because it has not been built according to a mechanism of harmonizing economic interests and social interests, the interests of the parties participating in labor relations, the feasibility and effectiveness of some regulations on occupational safety and hygiene are still limited. Therefore, the improvement of legal regulations in this field is very important to maximally protect the rights and interests of workers. One of the solutions that is direct and effective in practice is the solution: amending and supplementing a number of legal regulations on occupational safety and hygiene. According to students, currently the law on occupational safety and hygiene needs to be amended and supplemented on a number of issues such as:
* One is about working conditions: Supplement the list of jobs that prohibit the use of certain specific workers (female workers, minor workers, workers with disabilities) based on updating new occupations that appear in reality and contain hazardous and toxic factors that can affect the health and psychology of these specific subjects (for example: nuclear energy production field...)
* Second, on working hours, rest hours and overtime issues: it is necessary to perfect the provisions of the labor law on this regime in the direction of legalizing the principles and conditions for mobilizing overtime to overcome the situation of mobilizing overtime in excess of the prescribed number of hours. It is necessary to determine the total number of working hours (including overtime), rest hours of employees in a day, a week, a month, a year and have appropriate balance, compensation and regulations on appropriate treatment. Increase the number of overtime hours in a year of employees to create conditions for employers to mobilize employees to work overtime to complete the work that is
seasonal, ad hoc or urgent work according to the business production cycle of the enterprise. On the other hand, increasing the maximum overtime hours for workers will also create conditions for workers to have more income to accumulate for their lives. In addition, increasing the number of overtime hours for workers contributes to increasing Vietnam's competitive advantage in the international labor market.
* Third: The State should supplement regulations on standards, operating procedures of technology, machinery, means, and equipment for production and business activities; supplement regulations for designers, manufacturers, and importers of technology, equipment, tools, chemicals, etc. to also comply with regulations on occupational safety and hygiene stated in national and local technical standards and regulations on occupational safety and hygiene; supplement the list of occupational diseases (malaria, occupational musculoskeletal disorders), adjust the in-kind compensation regime to suit the needs and conditions of enterprises, supplement the responsibility of the State and society for regulations related to insurance funds for occupational accidents and diseases.
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* Fourthly, regarding inspection and sanctioning of violations in the field of occupational safety and hygiene, it can be seen that the penalties for violations of occupational safety and hygiene regulations by enterprises are still at a light level, while the consequences of such violations can be very serious, affecting the long-term health of workers, even their lives. Therefore, the State needs to develop strict sanctions with appropriate fines and additional sanctions to strictly handle violations of occupational safety and hygiene regulations to prevent the recurrence of such violations. Regarding inspection, the State needs to have specific regulations and policies on investing in human resources and funding for occupational safety and hygiene inspection activities, focusing on
Retraining and improving the qualifications of officers working in occupational safety and hygiene inspection in conditions of scientific and technological development.
* Fifth: amend and supplement regulations on Trade Union organization, especially the issue of creating mechanisms and policies for Trade Union organizations to have conditions to pay full salaries to officials doing trade union work at enterprises (ensuring that Trade Union organizations work independently, and are an independent party in the 3-party mechanism in business operations). This is related to amending and supplementing the Trade Union Law and documents guiding its implementation.
* In addition to amending some regulations directly related to labor safety and hygiene as above, an equally important issue is amending other legal regulations that are related or affected when amending and supplementing regulations on labor safety and hygiene. For example, regulations on "vocational training". When enterprises innovate technology, production lines, use imported machinery, means, and equipment that meet labor safety and hygiene standards, labor safety and hygiene issues will be improved, minimized, and ensured to the maximum extent. Obviously, such technological innovation will ensure better working conditions. However, the downside is that a portion of workers who do not meet the requirements of new technology will be eliminated. The State needs to have regulations to facilitate support for businesses in resolving surplus labor after applying new technology, machinery, means, and imported equipment that meet safety and labor hygiene standards. This requires more detailed regulations on vocational training, in which the responsibilities of employers are determined.
Thus, amending and supplementing the provisions of the law on labor safety and hygiene is an important solution in perfecting the law on labor safety and hygiene. However, when implementing this solution, it is necessary to pay attention to ensuring the stability of the law. We all know that, to ensure
The stability of the law, it is necessary to limit the amendment and supplementation of the law in the style of following the fluctuations of social life. Only when absolutely necessary should the law be amended and supplemented. Therefore, in terms of legislative techniques, it is necessary to research and build in the direction of framework law, there must be open regulations to ensure both the stability and flexibility of the Law, for example: when regulating occupations and jobs that prohibit the use of certain specific workers. Because it is impossible to predict all new occupations that may appear in the future, each amendment and supplement cannot list all such occupations and occupations, therefore, it is necessary to have open regulations to create the ability to consider a certain occupation that can be considered dangerous and toxic to workers and similarly, a certain occupation that has been regulated in the list of jobs prohibited from using certain specific laborers but due to the development of science and technology at a certain time, its dangerous and toxic factors can be overcome, it is not considered a dangerous and toxic job in the list of jobs prohibited from using specific laborers... Forecasting and framework regulations need to be built to ensure the sustainability of the law, avoiding "timeliness".
Another legislative solution is to develop and collect legal regulations on occupational safety and hygiene as well as separate occupational safety and hygiene regulations from the Labor Code to develop a more specialized, highly legal and focused document - the Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene.
3.3.2 Improve the effectiveness of law enforcement on labor safety and hygiene.
To improve the effectiveness of the application of labor safety and hygiene laws, in addition to amending and perfecting the legal system in this field, strengthening the organization of implementation, consolidating the management apparatus as well as propaganda, dissemination and legal education activities also play a very important role.
Firstly, strengthen the dissemination and education of laws and propaganda on labor safety and labor hygiene.
The work of propaganda, dissemination and legal education plays an important role in people's awareness of the law and their sense of compliance with the law. This is considered an effective solution to improve the effectiveness of law enforcement in general and labor safety and hygiene laws in particular. Through this work, businesses and employees can grasp the provisions of the law, understand the importance of complying with the regulations and thereby gradually form a sense of compliance with the law in the labor process. To effectively carry out this work, it is necessary to strengthen communication programs on labor safety and hygiene on mass media, develop a national information network on labor safety and hygiene. Launch mass movements to support and learn about labor safety and hygiene such as "National Week on Labor Safety and Hygiene", "Welcome Month, World Day on Labor Safety and Hygiene" at the workplace. At the same time, it is necessary to have an information network about enterprises that perform well in ensuring occupational safety and hygiene to encourage the spirit of these enterprises and set an example for other enterprises. In addition, it is necessary to specifically name enterprises that have not yet ensured occupational safety and hygiene conditions, enterprises that violate occupational safety and hygiene regulations so that these enterprises can find solutions to overcome them. It is necessary to focus on activities to disseminate knowledge about occupational safety and hygiene for the private economic sector, craft villages and in agricultural production - places where there are potential factors and high risks of occupational safety and hygiene.
For businesses: it is necessary to strengthen the dissemination of laws on labor safety and hygiene to raise workers' awareness of the importance of implementing labor safety and hygiene not only for the benefit of workers but also for the benefit of businesses and employers.
In addition, businesses should identify slogans and action programs on occupational safety and hygiene, and encourage employees to perform well in order to build a safe working environment.
In addition, it is necessary to regularly organize training on occupational safety and hygiene for employers and employees.
Second, strengthen management, inspection and handling of violations of laws on labor safety and hygiene.
The effectiveness of law enforcement is only achieved when there is a combination of
Therefore, in addition to the solution to strengthen the dissemination and education of laws; propaganda on labor safety and labor hygiene, the solution to "strengthen State management of labor safety and labor hygiene, inspection and punishment of violations"
"violations of the law on labor safety and hygiene" plays a very important role as a measure to ensure that the provisions of the law on labor safety and hygiene are implemented in practice. Inspection, examination and supervision need to be further strengthened for enterprises of all economic sectors as well as maintaining a reporting regime on the implementation of labor safety and hygiene at enterprises, the situation of labor accidents and occupational diseases arising in enterprises... so that competent State agencies will have measures to overcome shortcomings in management work, promptly handle violations of subjects related to labor safety and hygiene; consolidate and build
new statistical system, periodic reporting on occupational accidents and diseases. In addition, competent authorities need to manage and strictly implement the national 3-party consultation mechanism on occupational safety and hygiene with the following basic regulations:
- The Government periodically works twice a year with the Presidium of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor to review commitments in relations.
between the Government and the Trade Union, listening to opinions and recommendations on issues related to workers' rights in labor relations, including the right to enjoy occupational safety and hygiene.
- The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs periodically works with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor twice a year to review cooperation work, listen to opinions, suggestions and recommendations on issues related to labor safety and hygiene.
- Annually, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health coordinate with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor to organize inspections of the implementation of labor safety and hygiene at production facilities and domestic enterprises.
- Local labor safety and hygiene management agencies are responsible for disseminating documents related to labor safety and hygiene issued by competent authorities to enterprises and production establishments in the management area, providing guidance on monitoring implementation, and promptly reporting any difficulties in implementing policies issued by the State.
- Include the evaluation of 3-party activities in the annual summary conferences on labor protection work to draw experience and propose solutions to increase the effectiveness of the 3-party mechanism in practice.
Along with management, inspection work also needs to be focused on. Innovate the State inspection work on labor, promote self-inspection, supervision of labor safety and hygiene of establishments, establish and strengthen specialized inspections on labor safety and hygiene in specific fields. Enhance the social responsibility of enterprises, considering it an inevitable trend in the process of developing a sustainable socio-economic foundation of the country. At the same time, handling cases of violations of labor safety and hygiene laws must be strict, with the right person, the right crime, and the right level.
"punish" and "deter" businesses, avoid falling into "formalism" and "lifting high and hitting lightly".
Corporate social responsibility is the process of harmoniously combining the implementation of the provisions of the revised Labor Code and the requirements of partners; combining the interests of the enterprise with the interests of society, the rights of employers and employees; and economic interests and environmental protection. The role of labor inspectors is, in addition to monitoring and checking the technical and legal standards that enterprises implement, to help enterprises understand more correctly and deeply their social responsibilities.
The State must create a mechanism to empower labor inspectors to use administrative sanctions and require production establishments to take remedial measures for violations.
The inspector in charge of each region must coordinate with the labor inspectors of the Departments to issue the ballots, analyze the results and send the petitions to each enterprise. Based on the results of the ballot analysis, the inspector in charge of the region can focus on inspecting some non-compliant enterprises in order to prevent and promptly handle violations.
The State needs to have a policy of training and professional development for labor inspectors to improve their capacity and qualifications; thereby improving the efficiency and quality of labor inspection in general and labor safety and hygiene inspection in particular. In addition, facilities and technical equipment serving management and inspection work also need to be adequately invested.
Labor inspectors need to organize training for employers on risk management in production and organize the implementation of labor protection work, ensuring labor safety and hygiene in enterprises.