OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH SUMMIT. Bataan Vice Governor Crisanta Garcia (left) hands out a Certificate of Appreciation to Director Noel Binag, head of the Occupational Safety and Health office of the Department of Labor and Employment, for gracing Bataan's first Occupational Safety and Health Summit held in Balanga City on Thursday (April 25, 2019). Labor Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunsad (second from right) and Senator Joel Villanueva (right) look on. (Photo by Ernie Esconde)
BALANGA CITY, Bataan -- Senator Joel Villanueva emphasized on Thursday that the safety and health of workers in their workplaces is a paramount concern as he discussed in a summit held here the provisions of the newly-passed law that he principally authored.
Republic Act 11058 calls for strengthening compliance with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) standards and providing penalties for violations thereof.
The senator 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,” Villanueva said.
He said that 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. 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,” Villanueva said.
The senator said if a workplace has problems, work should not continue and the employer must ensure that its employees are safe.
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),” he said.
Villanueva, Binag and Labor Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunsad were in Balanga City during the first Occupational Safety and Health Summit held 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 has attained 1.4 million safety man-hours for the construction of its bunker project to replace the old capitol building. (PNA)
