Circular No. 10/1998/TT-BLDTBXH dated May 28, 1998 of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs giving instructions for personal protective equipment

CIRCULAR

GIVING INSTRUCTIONS FOR PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

To implement the Labour Code and the Governmental Decree 06/CP dated 20/1/1995 which elaborates some provisions on the occupational safe and health in the Labour Code, after having consultations with the Ministry of Finance, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and other concerned bodies, the MOLISA instructs the provision of Personal protective equipment as following:

I. SUBJECTS AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION

Personal protective equipment shall be provided to persons who are directly working in contact with harmful, dangerous elements including administrative officers who have to carry out regular inspecting, checking and supervising of workplaces; or researchers, teachers, students, vocational trainees or apprentices of the following undertakings, bodies and organisations:

- State owned undertakings

- Undertakings with foreign invested capital, undertakings operating in economic processing Zones and Industrial Zones.

- Undertakings, Organisations, individuals in other economic sectors hiring employees for operating business and production

- Foreign organisations and international organisations operating in Vietnam

- Institution, business, service units belonging to administrative and non-productive bodies, to political, social organisations and mass organisation, to people s army and people s security forces

- Administrative and non-productive bodies

- Political, social organisations and mass organisations.

II. REQUIREMENTS FOR PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

1. Personal Protective Equipment are necessary tools and means provided to worker during their work or performing their duties in the workplace holding dangerous, harmful elements which are not be able to eliminated by technical safety and technical hygiene measures.

2. Personal Protective Equipment provided for employees should be adequate to prevent effectively the effective of harmful, dangerous elements of working environment but convenient and easily for use and maintenance and should not create other harmful elements.

3. Personal Protective Equipment includes:

- Head protective devices: helmet to prevent from Cerebral skull injury, safety nets or hair protective hats.

- Eye and face protective devices: glasses, face shields

- Hearing protective devices: ear plugs or ear muffs

- Respiratory protective devices: protective masks; respirators

- Protective gloves, protective footwear: shoes, boots, socks

- Body protective devices: working clothes, coveralls resistance to heat, to cold and radiation

- Protective devices preventing of falling from height: safety belt

- Protective devices preventing of electric shock, electromagnetic field: electric resistance gloves, electric resistance boots

- Protective devices preventing down: life jackets

- Other devices ensuring occupational safety and health

4. Personal Protective devices mentioned above shall be produced in Vietnam or imported in accordance with the quality standard of the State.

III. QUALIFIED CONDITIONS FOR PROVISION OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

Workers who during their work are in contact with one of the following dangerous and harmful elements shall be provided with personal protective equipment:

1. Contacting with disadvantageous physical elements such as: too high or too low temperature, pressure, noise, glare, radiation ray, electric high tension, electrical magnetic...

2. Contacting with harmful chemicals such as toxic gas, fume, harmful dusts and other productions containing: lead, mercury, manganese, baser categories, or other harmful chemicals.

3. Contacting with harmful biological elements and disadvantageous working environment as following:

- Harmful bacteria (transmittal diseases)

- Polluted dung, water, sewage

- Other harmful biological elements.

4. Working with machinery, equipment, working tools, or in positions with high risks of occupational accidents as working in the height, in mines, working on water, in forest or working in other dangerous and harmful working conditions.

IV. PRINCIPLES FOR PROVISION, USE AND MAINTENANCE OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

1. The employer shall ensure to carry out technical measures to eliminate or to reduce to minimum the damage of dangerous and harmful elements as less as possible and to improve working conditions before providing personal protective equipment.

2. The employer provides personal protective equipment for the employee in accordance with the list of personal protective devices issued by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. Where unsafe occupations having dangerous and harmful elements and requiring certain kind of personal protective equipment are not covered yet in the list of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the employer shall be temporally allowed to provide personal protective equipment to meet the requirements of such occupations, but these cases shall be reported to the supervising ministry, industry and locality of the undertaking for supplement by the Ministry of labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

3. The employer, based on requirements of each job or each occupation in the workplace and taking into account the opinions of undertaking s trade union shall set up a life time of personal protective equipment to fit with nature of work and quality of used personal protective equipment.

4. The employer shall instruct their workers how to smoothly use the dedicated personnel protective equipment before provision and closely supervise their application afterward.

5. As for personnel protective devices that require technically high safety as electrical isolation gloves, electrical isolation boots, anti-toxic masks, safety belts, life jackets, the employer shall together with the employee check to ensure quality standards of personal protective devices before the first distribution to the employee and periodically recheck personal protective equipment and make records into a book.

6. As for personal protective devices used in polluted areas vulnerable by toxic substance, bacteria, radiation, after using, the employer shall carry out anti- contamination measures, bacteria sterilise, appropriate purging measures to meet the requirements of Hygiene standards and shall check such equipment periodically.

7. Workers that have been provided with personal protective devices shall be obliged to use as stipulated while working and shall not use personal protective equipment for their own purposes. Workers acting in breach of such regulations, shall be liable to penalties in accordance with the degree of infringement of undertaking rules or provisions of law.

8. Workers shall not pay for personal protective equipment; In case personal protective equipment is lost or damaged, the employer shall provide a substitute but for the loss or break- down without accepted reasons, a worker shall pay in accordance with the undertaking rules. When personal protective equipment run out of life time for using or when the employee moves to other occupations, the employee shall return personal protective equipment to the employer if required

9. The employer shall provide facility for storing and maintaining personal protective equipment according to the instructions of manufactures, or producer of such personal protective equipment.

10. All acts by employer to pay cash in hand for employee instead of providing personal protective equipment or to pay cash in hand and let employee to purchase personal protective equipment themselves are strictly prohibited.

11. Expense for purchasing personal protective equipment shall be included in production cost or circulation cost for productive and business undertakings and to current expenditure for business units belonging to administrative and non-productive bodies.

V. IMPLEMENTATION

1. Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs shall assist People s Committee in Province and in cities to disseminate this Circular to all undertakings operating in their localities and to instruct, and inspect provision of personal protective equipment.

2. Based on norms of personal protective equipment issued by the MOLISA and the life time of personal protective equipment, after taking into account the opinion of trade union of undertaking, the employer shall set up an annual plan for purchasing personal protective equipment (including a reserve plan), and to instruct the methods of using personal protective equipment, as well as procedures for providing personal protective equipment to ensure safety and health for the employee and to institutionalise the obligations of the employer and of the employee in implementing personal protective equipment regulations.

3. Ministries, ministerial-levelled agencies and other Government offices, People s Committee of province and cities under Central Government shall be responsible for collecting proposals to the MOLISA for issuance of the list of personal protective equipment and for instructing and inspecting the implementation of personal protective equipment regime by undertakings within their competence.

4. This Circular shall be effective in 15 days after the date of its signature and replaces Circular No 02/LDTBXH dated 19/01/1990. Other provisions contrary to this Circular are hereby repealed.

Ministries, industries, localities shall report problems arisen during the implementation of that Circular to Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs for amendment./.