Regarding this issue, Mrs. Ho Thi Kim Ngan, Deputy Head of the Labor Relations Department (Vietnam General Confederation of Labor) said that Article 38 of the Law on Labor Safety and Hygiene provides very clearly the responsibility of employers towards employees who have an occupational accident or occupational disease.
Thousands of occupational accidents occur each year in the country (Illustrative image)
“Accordingly, employers must promptly provide first aid and emergency treatment to employees who have an occupational accident and must pay in advance the costs of first aid, emergency treatment and treatment for employees who have an occupational accident or occupational disease. Employers must also pay the co-payment portion and other costs not included in the list covered by health insurance for employees participating in health insurance; pay all medical expenses for employees not participating in health insurance; pay full wages to employees who have an occupational accident and must take time off work during treatment and rehabilitation; compensate employees for occupational accidents that are not entirely their own fault (support for employees who have occupational accidents caused by their own fault, an amount of at least 40% of the prescribed level)”, said Mrs. Ho Thi Kim Ngan.
Also according to Mrs. Ngan, the Law on Labor Safety and Hygiene stipulates that employers must develop and issue a plan for handling incidents and responding to emergency dangerous situations that occur in the workplace, which clearly identifies the procedures and responsibilities for handling occupational accident incidents. For employers, when an incident occurs, the employer’s responsibility is to order the immediate suspension of the operation of machinery, equipment and materials with the risk of occupational accidents, not to force employees to continue working in places where there is a risk of occupational accidents, and the remedies and actions to be taken have been prescribed in the response plan.
If an occupational accident occurs within the unit or enterprise, the employer is responsible for promptly mobilizing manpower to respond. If the incident causes insecurity in the unit or enterprise with an impact on the locality, the local authority and the enterprise leader are responsible for coordinating the handling, and if it is beyond the scope of handling of the locality and the enterprise, it must be reported to the higher authority for timely response and response.
In addition, in case the employee has an occupational accident that meets the following conditions, the employee is entitled to occupational accident allowance: Having an occupational accident at the workplace during working hours or outside the workplace as assigned by the employer; after an injury assessment, if the employee’s ability to work is reduced by 5-30%, the employee will receive a one-time accident allowance; from 31% or more, the employee will receive a monthly occupational accident allowance. The level of occupational accident allowance is calculated based on the social insurance contribution salary of the month immediately preceding the leave of absence due to occupational accident or occupational disease.
