DAVAO CITY – The House Committee on Labor and Employment approved on Wednesday the bill for stricter occupational health and safety standards (OHS).
Gabriela Women’s Party Representatives Emmi De Jesus and Luzviminda Ilagan both said the approval is a positive development and hopes that a counterpart measure will soon move forward in the Senate.
GWP lawmakers filed “An Act Imposing Strict Compliance through Mandatory Inspection and Providing Penalties for Violations of Occupational Safety and Health Provisions of the Labor Code, also known as the “Workers’ Safety and Health Inspection and Employers’ Liability Decree” (Workers’ SHIELD) after eight women workers perished in a Pasay warehouse fire in 2014.
De Jesus said the proposed measure “mandates the compulsory scrutiny by state inspectors of workplace conditions”.
“The proposed return to stricter standards and greater worker participation potentially reverses the substandard and deficient system of voluntary inspection where employers can get by without entirely complying with workplace safety checklists,” proponents said.
The bill prescribes higher penalties on violators, ranging from P150,000 per injury to P250,000 per death, and imprisonment.
“Workers are represented by the union in the safety and health committee, or at least be selected through majority vote if no union exists,” said De Jesus.
De Jesus said “the increase of workplace accidents and the lack of mechanisms that ensure immediate compensation of workers are proof of how the Department of Labor and Employment has fallen short of its obligations to ensure workers’ safety.”
Major provisions of the bill were merged with the bill filed by committee chairman, Rep. Karlo Nograles, while major labor federations and labor rights advocacy non-government organizations (NGOs) fed significant refinements.
Roger Soluta, secretary general of Kilusang Mayo Uno said they are glad with the passage of the bill.
“The substitute bill’s passage is the result of the public’s outrage over the death of more than 72 workers in the Kentex fire tragedy, the worst factory fire in Philippine history, and over the increasing number of workplace deaths in the country,” Soluta said.
“It is also the result of continuing protests calling for justice over the Kentex factory fire and workplace deaths, for safer workplaces for Filipino workers, and the junking of contractualization,” he said.
Soluta also urged legislators to immediately pass measures contained in the Workers’ SHIELD Bill.
De Jesus, however, said jubilation over the committee approval “must be tempered by the need to get a congruent Senate version and for workers groups stay vigilant to prevent the bicameral conference process from watering down the House version.” (davaotoday.com)
