BACOLOD City – A labor group in Negros Occidental welcomed the passage of a law that ensures the implementation of proper health and safety standards in workplaces in the country.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act (RA) 11058 on Aug. 17. The law fines employers violating safety and health standards in workplaces.
General Alliance of Workers Associations (GAWA) secretary-general Wennie Sancho said they are hoping RA 11058 would “give teeth” to the provisions of the Labor Code.
Labor groups in Western Visayas want a strict enforcement of the new law, said Sancho, also a labor representative to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board.
RA 11058 requires employers or contractors to furnish a workplace free from hazards; provide complete job safety instructions or orientation; inform workers about the hazards associated with their work; use only approved devices and equipment; and provide workers with free protective equipment like safety belt or harness, gas or dust respirators.
Sancho stressed that the Labor department must closely monitor employers of workplaces that that are “hazardous in nature.”
These include firecracker-manufacturing businesses and sweatshops or “fly-by-night” companies that do not provide safety measures for their workers.
The new law covers all establishments, projects, sites, and all other workplaces in all branches of economic activity except in the public sector.
It mandates Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III to issue appropriate occupational safety and health standards based on the number of employees, nature of operations and risk of hazards involved. (With a report from PNA/PN)
