Workplace safety hazards due to lack of knowledge.

In the first 11 months of 2025, the number of serious workplace accidents in Hai Phong city showed an increasing trend.

To prevent workplace accidents, the City People's Committee has requested departments, agencies, and localities to review, inspect, and strictly manage projects and construction works. (In the photo: Construction workers working on a project in An Duong ward.)

In light of this situation, the City People's Committee continues to request departments, agencies, communes, wards, special zones, and related units to strengthen occupational safety and health work, focusing on improving the effectiveness of disseminating legal knowledge on occupational safety to employers and employees.

Mainly due to subjective errors

According to statistics from the City People's Committee, although state management of occupational safety and hygiene has been given attention and implemented by various sectors and levels in recent times, serious labor accidents, especially fatal ones, still occur and are on the rise. From the beginning of the year to November 5, 2025, there were 30 fatal labor accidents in the city, resulting in 32 deaths (an increase of 3 accidents and 5 deaths compared to the same period in 2024).

Analysis by authorities shows that accidents mainly occur in the construction, mechanical engineering, shipbuilding, and metallurgy sectors. One of the causes of these accidents is the negligence of workers, who do not fully comply with regulations, procedures, and safety measures, especially regarding workplace safety on construction sites. For example, a tragic accident occurred at the May Chai Bridge project earlier this year, resulting in the death of a male worker. According to the incident report, on January 12th, Mr. NTT (residing in Nghe An province) – a construction worker (with a labor contract) – was dismantling the scaffolding for spans T19-T20 of the May Chai Bridge and was assigned to dismantle the structure under the bridge. During the work, after attaching the crane cable to pull the structure out, Mr. T. was using a walkie-talkie to signal the crane operator to raise the cable when he suddenly fell into the Cam River. Initial investigations revealed that Mr. T. was wearing a seatbelt, but at the time of the accident, the victim did not attach the seatbelt to the life raft system.

In addition to the above reasons, there are also reasons stemming from the employers. These include a lack of attention and investment in workplace safety, insufficient technical safety measures, and inadequate safety equipment for workers.

According to information from the City Federation of Labor, since the beginning of the year, along with implementing solutions to raise awareness and compliance with labor safety regulations among businesses and workers in the city, the unit has conducted social monitoring and feedback at 16 businesses in industrial zones and local units. Mr. Vu Ngoc Thuc, Deputy Head of the Trade Union Affairs Department and Head of the Legal Policy and Labor Relations Department (City Federation of Labor), reported that monitoring showed that labor safety and hygiene were implemented systematically by foreign-invested enterprises and large-scale enterprises. However, in the private sector and small and medium-sized enterprises, this work was still limited. Therefore, workers lacked training in labor safety, leading to workplace accidents.

Industrial cleaning workers are cleaning construction sites in An Duong ward.

Preventing and minimizing workplace accidents.

In response to the above situation, the City People's Committee recently issued document No. 2911 dated November 19, 2025, on "strengthening occupational safety and health work in the city." In this document, to prevent occupational accidents and diseases, the Chairman of the City People's Committee requested heads of departments, agencies, commune-level People's Committees, and other organizations, units, and businesses to raise awareness and responsibility regarding occupational safety and health and focus on implementing six key solutions. These include focusing on disseminating information, guidance, and legal knowledge on occupational safety and health appropriate to each field and industry; prioritizing workers without labor contracts, workers in strenuous, hazardous, and dangerous occupations, and jobs with strict occupational safety and health requirements. At the same time, the city government will strengthen inspection and supervision of units and businesses operating in industries and fields with a high risk of fatal workplace accidents; and businesses with many workers performing jobs requiring strict occupational safety standards… The Chairman of the City People's Committee also assigned specific tasks to each relevant department, sector, and unit.

According to Mr. Vu Ngoc Thuc, Deputy Head of the Trade Union Affairs Department and Head of the Legal Policy and Labor Relations Department, ensuring occupational safety is not a movement but a continuous and ongoing task. In the coming time, the City Federation of Labor will continue to organize training and awareness campaigns to improve the operational skills of the occupational safety and health network, thereby disseminating information on measures to help workers understand and identify potential hazards in their workplaces that could cause accidents or harm their health. Through monitoring, the unit also requires grassroots trade unions to closely follow the production and business situation of enterprises and fully implement regulations on occupational safety, helping workers work in a safe environment.

In practice, following the directives of the City People's Committee, relevant departments and agencies, as well as the People's Committees of some communes and wards, have organized inspections and monitoring of the implementation of labor policies and compliance with laws on occupational safety and hygiene at some enterprises in the area. However, the role of state management cannot be the sole "facilitator"; the crucial factor remains the awareness of both employers and employees, who must consider ensuring occupational safety as a central and ongoing task.

HA MINH

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/mat-an-toan-lao-dong-do-thieu-hieu-biet-528798.html