Vietnamlawmagazine

Hanoi police are investigating violations of construction regulations that caused serious consequences, after three accidents at the construction site of the Hanoi Landmark Tower within one week killed four workers and injured three others.

The case, which was instituted under Article 229 of the Penal Code, was the most serious and complex violation of labor safety regulations ever investigated in Tu Liem district, involving workers, machinery operators, technical supervisors and foreign contractors, said Tran Duc Long, chief of Tu Liem district police.

Construction at Vietnam’s highest building was halted for the investigation, said Bui Van Chieu, deputy director of Hanoi Construction Department.

On July 21, two workers without safety belts fell from the 15th storey of a 48-storey tower, one of the two buildings of the Hanoi Landmark Tower project, where they were installing concrete shuttering. They died immediately of serious trauma.

One day later, two others, a worker and a technical supervisor, fell from the 4th floor of the project’s 70-storey tower. One died instantly and the other died in hospital the day after.

Construction was halted after the two accidents, but when it resumed on July 27, another accident took place at the 48-storey tower, injuring two workers and a technician, who fell from the 13th floor together with a shuttering, which was luckily stuck on the eight floor.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs had reported the case to the Prime Minister, said Minister Nguyen Kim Ngan, stressing that the lack of labor safety at this construction site was alarming and serious. The construction site had failed to observe the law and ensure labor safety, she said.

Initial investigation revealed that the accidents were caused by the victims’ low sense of hazard and the limited capacity of construction contractors and supervisors, Chieu told VnExpress.net.

Construction methods at the work site had failed to fully comply with the law while the main contractor, Keangnam Enterprises Ltd, had not inspected or approved of these methods, Chieu said.

Regulations on health examination for laborers and publicity of labor safety methods and rules at the construction site had not been observed according to a report by Hanoi Construction Department.

The contractor had also failed to register equipment subject to strict labor safety requirements with the municipal Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs or meet requirements on labor safety training, the report said.

The municipal Construction Department requested the investor and contractors to examine the capacity and experience of all subcontractors, especially the qualification of individual managers in charge of construction techniques and labor safety at the construction site. It also asked the investor to halt construction of elements of the project which showed signs of poor labor safety and requested the Construction Inspectorate to administratively sanction the investor and involved parties.

Hanoi Landmark Tower is a USD one billion project of the Keangnam Vina Company to build two high-rise towers of luxury apartments, hotels and offices. The main contractor is Keangnam Enterprises Ltd and the subcontractors are Construction Joint Stock Company No. 1 (Cofico), Hanoi Construction Joint Stock Company No. 1 (HACC 1) and Seoyong Company of South Korea. Seoyong has subcontracted Hoa Binh Real Estate Construction and Trading Joint Stock Company to supply laborers.

The accidents at Hanoi Landmark Tower were again a serious warning sign about labor safety at construction sites.

According to the Hanoi Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, construction accidents made up nearly 60% of labor accidents in the city in the first half of this year. In July alone, the city reported 12 serious labor accidents, killing 13, including seven in construction accidents.

According to Nguyen Xuan Ky, deputy director of the Department’s Labor Safety Inspection Board, accidents at construction sites were caused by both workers and employers.

Contractors often cut costs for safety equipment because there was no specific requirement for labor safety expenses, which usually made up 1-3% of the total cost of a project in other countries, Ky said.

He said employers’ most common violations included failure to provide safety equipment, labor safety training or medical examination for workers, as well as a failure to sign labor contracts with them.

Meanwhile, workers often failed to observe obligatory processes, including wearing safety belts or hooking cables to fixed points, he said.

Pham Sy Liem, vice president of Vietnam Construction Association, also agreed that most investors and contractors paid more attention to construction quality and prices than labor safety. He stressed that labor safety rules must be strictly observed at construction sites, especially those to build high rises. Workers must be trained in labor safety and obtain training certificates, he said, pointing out that labor safety training in many cases was merely formalistic.

Officials of the Labor Safety Department pointed to the common practice of subcontracting to private contractor groups as a reason behind construction accidents. Contractor groups tended to hire seasonal laborers without furnishing them with sufficient labor safety devices and training them in labor safety processes.

They also blamed on a lack of labor inspectors and lax coordination among concerned bodies, which made inspection at construction sites ineffective.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Inspectorate of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, 65-70% of 160 labor accidents in the construction sector in recent years were caused by employers being small and medium enterprises and contractors without legal entity status which hired seasonal laborers without buying them social and health insurance or training them in labor safety.

A labor inspector said it was common that a number of businesses were established to merely have legal entity status to bid or buy bids from other contractors. These businesses, which often did not have capital and were unqualified in terms of expertise and experience, mostly did not know or care about regulations on labor protection, safety and hygiene.

According to the Labor Safety Department, the country annually reports over 5,000 labor accidents, killing hundreds of people and injuring thousands. Construction, industrial and transport sectors were those recording highest death tolls in labor accidents

Violations of labor safety standards and regulations by both employers and employees and the lack of labor inspectors (the country now has over 300 inspectors) were to blame.

Poor labor protection devices and limited knowledge of laborers were also the causes of increasing labor accidents and injury rates.

To reduce labor accidents, the government has implemented a national program on labor protection, safety and hygiene with many projects, one of which is to raise awareness and knowledge about labor safety. Nevertheless, information on labor safety laws has so far reached administrators rather than enterprises, experts said. (VLLF)-