MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a measure imposing the stricter application of Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS).
Republic Act 11058 seeks to amend the 41-year old Labor Code of the Philippines, which currently does not declare unlawful violations of such standards.
The law requires employers, contractors and subcontractors to provide workers “a place of employment free from hazardous conditions.”
It is an employer’s duty to provide complete job safety instructions of orientation to all workers, inform them of the hazards associated with their work, use approved devices and equipment for the workplace, and comply with OSH standards, stated the law signed on Aug. 17.
Section 9 of the OSHS Act emphasizes the need for all establishments, projects and sites where work is being undertaken to post safety signages and devices to warn the workers and the public of the hazards in that workplace.
Likewise the law creates an Occupational Safety and Health Committee that will ensure that the standards are observed and enforced.
The committee shall be composed of the employer, safety officers, physicians, nurses, certified first-aiders and dentists, and workers’ representatives.
Failure to comply with the standards or with a compliance order will make an employer liable for an administrative fine not exceeding P100,000 per day until the violation is corrected.
Sen. Joel Villanueva, chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment, and human resources development, said the signing of the law is a “resounding victory to all our workers” and an “important milestone.”
“With this law, the DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) should be able to raise the OSH standards compliance [from] the 67-percent compliance rate in 2017, with 72 workplace accidents causing fatal injuries to 95 workers and nonfatal injuries to 117,” Villanueva said./PN
