National Assembly Deputy Bui Si Loi, Deputy Chairman of the Committee ofSocial Affairs, has spoken with Vietnamplus about the draft law onLabour Safety and Hygiene.

Loi said occupational accidents havebecome complicated in recent years and are an alarming issue, shown bythe more than 600 deaths annually, ranking second behind fatalitiescaused by traffic accidents.

However, reports from the healthsector said that deaths from work accidents were three times higher thanthat – about 1,700 deaths annually.

However, he said, thecurrent Labour Code covers just 17 million workers out of the 54million. The remaining 37 million workers have no labour contracts,including 24 million living in rural and agricultural areas. This meansthey are not protected by the law.

“The new law will give us achance to provide a safe working environment for all workers. This alsofits the spirit of the 2013 Constitution's Article 35,’ he affirmed.

Anew regulation on the draft law on Labour Safety and Hygiene stipulatesthat labourers who have no labour contracts and apply for jobsrequiring strict labour safety and hygiene must be trained about laboursafety and hygiene, he said.

The NA deputy said it's obvious thatthe State must allocate a fund to train non-contract workers aboutlabour safety and hygiene. This regulation might not be effectiveimmediately, but it would assure safety for this group of workers.

Itis necessary to strengthen inspections on labourers as the current 487inspectors can hardly cover 54 million workers, 500,000 enterprises andother private businesses, he said.

It means that between 800 and1,000 inspectors need to be hired to conduct the task and the Governmentmust allocate more funds to pay them.

However, it is not aboutthe number of inspectors, it is about professional skills to solve theproblem, he said, adding the NA's Committee for Social Affairs willsubmit the initiative to the NA Standing Committee and collect opinionsfrom NA deputies.-VNA