Circular 25/2022/TT-BLDTBXH regime of supply of personal protective equipment at work

CIRCULAR

Providing for the regime of supply of personal protective equipment at work^[1]

Pursuant to Clause 4, Article 23 of the June 25, 2015 Law on Occupational Safety and Health;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 62/2022/ND-CP of September 12, 2022, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Work Safety;

The Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs promulgates the Circular providing for the regime of supply of personal protective equipment at work.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Circular provides for the regime of supply of personal protective equipment at work.

Article 2. Subjects of application

1. Workers as specified in Clauses 1, 2 and 4, Article 2 of the Law on Occupational Safety and Health.

2. Employers as specified in Clause 2, Article 3 of the Labor Code.

3. Other agencies, organizations and individuals related to the regime of supply of personal protective equipment at work.

Article 3. Personal protective equipment

1. Personal protective equipment means necessary tools and devices that must be supplied to workers for use at work or for task performance so as to protect their bodies from impacts of hazards that arise in labor activities and cannot be fully eliminated by technological, equipment and technical solutions concerning occupational safety and health at workplaces.

2. Personal protective equipment includes:

a/ Head protection equipment.

b/ Eye and face protection equipment.

c/ Hearing protection equipment.

d/ Respiratory protective equipment.

dd/ Hand and arm protection equipment.

e/ Foot and leg protection equipment.

g/ Body protection equipment.

h/ Fall arrest systems.

i/ Electric shock, electromagnetic field and radioactive protection devices.

k/ Drowning prevention devices.

l/ Other equipment to ensure occupational safety and health.

3. Personal protective equipment to be supplied to workers must be suitable to the effective prevention of impacts of hazards in the working environment, and easy to use and preserve, and must not cause other harms.

4. Personal protective equipment must meet quality requirements stated in relevant national technical standards or technical regulations and other relevant provisions of the labor law and specialized laws (if any).

Chapter II

PRINCIPLES OF SUPPLY, USE AND PRESERVATION OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

Article 4. Conditions for workers to be supplied with personal protective equipment

Workers who are in contact or work with one of the following hazards shall be supplied with personal protective equipment:

1. Being in contact with physical factors that do not satisfy sanitation standards.

2. Being in contact with dust and toxic chemicals.

3. Being in contact with hazardous biological factors, such as:

a/ Pathogenic viruses and bacteria and harmful insects;

b/ Excrement, wastewater, garbage and sewage;

c/ Other hazardous biological factors.

4. Working with machinery, equipment and tools with latent occupational safety and health risks; working in positions with dangerous working postures highly prone to occupational accidents; working at height; working in pits or oxygen-deficient places; working at sea or on rivers, in deep tunnels, confined spaces or forests; working in rock mountains or caves or in other hazardous working conditions.

Article 5. Principles of supply of personal protective equipment

1. Employers shall organize the evaluation and control of hazards at workplaces in accordance with law; take technological, equipment and technical measures concerning occupational safety and health to do away with or mitigate adverse impacts of hazards, thereby improving working conditions before supplying personal protective equipment.

2. Employers shall draw up lists of and supply personal protective equipment to workers based on the list of personal protective equipment to be supplied to workers performing occupations or jobs involving hazards specified in Appendix I to this Circular.

3. In addition to drawing up the lists mentioned in Clause 2 of this Article, employers shall take the initiative in drawing up lists of and supply personal protective equipment to workers in order to ensure safety and health for workers performing:

a/ Occupations or jobs not yet included in Appendix I to this Circular which are deemed by employers as having hazards that pose risks to health safety of workers.

b/ Occupations and jobs included in Appendix I to this Circular for which it is necessary to supplement lists of personal protective equipment in order to effectively prevent adverse impacts of hazards in the working environment.

4. Employers shall base themselves on requirements of each specific occupation or job in their establishments and recommendations of manufacturers for each type of personal protective equipment to decide on the expiry date and quantity of personal protective equipment as suitable to characteristics of such occupation or job and quality of such personal protective equipment.

5. Depending on specific requirements, employers shall supply necessary personal protective equipment to persons who come to the former’s establishments to inspect, examine, visit or study for use in the course of inspection, examination, visit or study.

6. Workers are not required to pay for use of personal protective equipment and may request their employers to add new personal protective equipment or change types of personal protective equipment to suit practical conditions.

Article 6. Principles of use of personal protective equipment

1. Employers shall provide workers with instructions for the latter to conversantly use personal protective equipment under guidance of manufacturers and shall examine the use thereof.

2. Employers shall organize inspection and testing of special-use personal protective equipment with high technical requirements in order to ensure their quality and specifications before supplying them to workers and, at the same time, periodically inspect their quality during use and record inspection results in monitoring books; employers may not use equipment not up to technical requirements or expired equipment as recommended by suppliers; and shall immediately discard damaged equipment no longer satisfying occupational safety and health requirements during use.

3. Workers who are supplied with personal protective equipment shall use such equipment in strict compliance with regulations while working. Workers who violate such regulations shall, depending on the severity of their violations, be disciplined in accordance with internal working regulations of their establishments or in accordance with law.

4. Employers shall supply new personal protective equipment to workers in case their old personal protective equipment is lost, damaged or expired. In case their personal protective equipment is lost or damaged while the workers cannot give plausible reasons, they shall pay compensation in accordance with internal working regulations of their establishments. Upon the expiration of personal protective equipment or being transferred to other occupations or jobs, workers shall return their existing personal protective equipment if so requested by their employers and sign equipment handover minutes.

Article 7. Principles of preservation of personal protective equipment

1. Employers shall arrange places for storage and preservation of personal protective equipment under guidance of manufacturers. Workers shall preserve personal protective equipment supplied to them.

2. Employers shall take measures to clean, detoxify, disinfect or decontaminate personal protective equipment after they are used in places that fail to meet hygiene requirements or are prone to intoxication, infection or radioactive contamination in order to ensure occupational safety and health for workers and the surrounding environment, and shall take periodical checks.

Chapter III

ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

Article 8. Responsibilities of employers      

1. Based on this Circular’s provisions on supply of personal protective equipment and decided expiry dates of personal protective equipment, to annually consult workers’ representative organizations at their establishments before formulating plans on procurement (including also procurement contingency plans) and supplying personal protective equipment to workers.

2. To inspect quality of personal protective equipment before supplying them to workers and in the course of use thereof. In case of supply of personal protective equipment to representatives of working teams or workshop units of workers, to inspect and supervise the handover and receipt of such personal protective equipment.

3. To keep books, made according to the form provided in Appendix II to this Circular, for monitoring the supply of personal protective equipment, which must bear signatures of workers or representatives of working teams or workshop units of workers who have received such equipment.

Employers are encouraged to digitalize data on the monitoring and supply of personal protective equipment, thus ensuring that confirmation by workers is conformable with the application of information technology.

4. To consult workers’ representative organizations at their establishments before deciding on expiry date and quantity of personal protective equipment to be supplied to their workers.

5. To adhere to the principles specified in Clause 3, Article 23 of the Law on Occupational Safety and Health, and this Circular.

6. While implementing Clause 3, Article 5 of this Circular, to concurrently send reports, made according to the form provided in Appendix III to this Circular, to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs for requesting consideration of amendments and supplementations to lists of personal protective equipment.

Article 9. Responsibilities of provincial-level Departments of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs

1. To coordinate with related agencies in disseminating and guiding this Circular among enterprises and production and business establishments based in their localities.

2. To regularly urge, supervise, examine and inspect the implementation of the provisions on supply of personal protective equipment at work and handle violations in accordance with the labor law.

3. To send to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs annual reports on the implementation of this Circular by enterprises, agencies, organizations, cooperatives and households based in their localities together with reports on occupational safety and health.

Article 10. Effect  

1. This Circular takes effect on April 1, 2023.

2. The Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs’ Circular No. 04/2014/TT-BLDTBXH of February 12, 2014, guiding the regime of supply of personal protective equipment, ceases to be effective on the effective date of this Circular.

3. Any problems arising in the course of implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs for study and solution.-

For the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs
Deputy Minister
LE VAN THANH

* The Appendices to this Circular are not translated.