DOLE found nearly half of local businesses failing to observe occupational safety standards, which brings risks to Filipino workers.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) discovered nearly half of the local businesses it inspected failed to observe occupational safety and health (OSH) standards.
“Many of those who failed compliance were micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)” ABS-CBN News quoted DOLE.
Labor Undersecretary Benjo Benavidez informed the Senate Finance Committee handling DOLE’s proposed 2023 budget that there was a 53 percent compliance rate among the 69,000 enterprises reviewed by labor inspectors as of September 2022.
He added that many small enterprises neglected to designate trained first- aid or safety employees, as required by OSH law.
The OSH law or Republic Act (RA) 11058 provides that each Filipino employee is protected against injury, sickness, or death through safe and healthful working conditions, this also includes the mental health of employees. Employers are also required to promote strict but dynamic and gender-sensitive measures in implementing policies and programs related to OSH.
The law also requires companies to provide a safe workplace for their employees, educate them on their jobs’ hazards, and appoint trained OSH professionals.
OSH violators could face fines of up to P100,000 a day for non-compliance.
Proven violators will be allowed a remediation period to voluntarily remedy any faults discovered by inspectors, depending on the type and severity of the violation.
“Tinitingnan po namin ‘yong mga datos ng nakarang 3 taon, ano ba ‘yong pwede natin maitulong sa maliliit na negosyo. Employer din po sila. May manggagawa din po sila. Kailangan din po natin siguraduhin na ligtas ‘yong kanilang manggagawa. Pero kailangan din po tulungan ng pamahalaan kung paano po sila makakapag-comply,” Benavidez said.
DOLE currently has 1,200 OSH inspectors, each taking a day or more to review businesses’ compliance depending on the size of the company. The inspections also included the additional protocols in 2020 and 2021 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mandatory free training and conferences are gradually returning to in-person sessions with the relaxing of restrictions given by the pandemic.
While a day’s training is enough for first aiders, construction safety training could take 4 to 5 days to train OSH officers.
Meanwhile, Senate President pro-tempore Loren Legarda encouraged the DOLE to develop new ways to expand OSH training for MSMEs, citing their importance to the economy.
In data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), 99.51 percent of business enterprises in the Philippines are MSMEs wherein 88.77 percent of them are micro-enterprises
“Hindi tayo pwedeng sita nang sita, pasara nang pasara. Kailangan turuan natin. Hindi nila kasalanan na hindi po nila ‘yan alam dahil nandiyan sila nang matagal at bago lang ang ating pagkaistrikto ng batas,” Legarda said.
Tags: #DOLE, #OSH, #Training, #Safety