Senator Joel Villanueva emphasized that the safety and health of workers in their workplaces is a paramount concern as he discussed the provisions of the newly-passed law that he principally authored in a summit held in Balanga City, Bataan.
Republic Act 11058 calls for strengthening compliance with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) standards and providing penalties for violations thereof.
Villanueva said data proved that there is partnership not only among workers, employers and the business sector but local government units (LGUs) as well.
“Like in the case of Bataan that is one of the top in the entire country, top in Central Luzon na walang insidente na nangyari sa (that there is no incident in the workplace). Ito’y malaking success sa pagpasa ng batas tungkol sa (this is a big success on the passage of the law regarding) occupational safety,” the seasoned legislator said.
The veteran lawmaker stressed that even if there is no earthquake, workers can say whether they are safe or not in their workplace.
“Even if there is no earthquake, workers can say whether they are safe or not in their workplace.”
“They have the right not to work and report this to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). There must be coordination on the relationship of the employees and employers. If the employees do not feel they are safe, they can always call DOLE. The safety and health of the workers is paramount,” the senator emphasized.
He said if a workplace has problems, work should not continue and the employer must ensure that its employees are safe.
“If a workplace has problems, work should not continue.”
Director Noel Binag, DOLE-OSH chief, said their department has only 500 inspectors to look after around a million establishments.
“Malayo tayo sa normal. Mababa tayo sa ratio. Dahil sa bagong OSH Law, kailangan natin ng additional inspectors tulad ng mga engineers (We are far beyond normal. We are low in ratio. Because of the new OSH law, we need additional inspectors like engineers),” Binag said.
Villanueva, Binag and Labor Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunsad were in Balanga City during the first Occupational Safety and Health Summit hosted by the provincial government.
During the event, DOLE recognized the Bataan provincial government for being the first LGU to implement an OSH management system and the first LGU to initiate an OSH Summit.
Vice Governor Crisanta Garcia received the award for the provincial government.
Bataan logged 1.4 million safety man-hours during the construction of its bunker project to replace its old capitol building.
