The HCM City Party Committee has urged relevant authorities to check the safety of all construction works.– Photo hanoimoi.vn

HCM CITY – The HCM City Party Committee has urged relevant authorities to check the safety of all construction works.

In a communication on May 12, it said oversight of construction activities and periodic inspections to ensure workplace safety and project quality were less than optimal and so accidents continue to occur at construction sites and nearby areas.

To ensure safety and the urban order, district party executive committees should improve oversight of construction works and educate citizens about construction laws, it said.

The Party Committee also called on relevant agencies to identify weaknesses in legal regulations related to quality of construction works and recommend amendments to establish proper standards for better managing them.

It urged the construction department to collaborate with relevant agencies to inspect construction works.

It said district people’s committees should monitor construction projects in their localities to make sure they scrupulously abide by all technical and workplace safety regulations.

The Party Committee’s instructions come amid a rash of construction-related accidents nation-wide, especially in major cities like Hà Nội and HCM City, seriously threatening lives.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Phạm Minh Huân said workplace accidents in the construction industry have increased to alarming levels in recent years both in terms of numbers and losses.

Last year it led the country in terms of both number of accidents and deaths, accounting for a whopping 35.2 per cent and 37.9 per cent respectively.

The main reasons for the accidents were employers’ low compliance with labour laws and workers’ lack of knowledge, Huân said.

Huỳnh Tấn Dũng, chief inspector at the HCM City labour department, said over 500 high-rise buildings are under construction, 300 in densely populated areas, with 200 tower cranes being used.

The number of people died in the construction area in the city accounted for between 50 and 65 per cent of the accidents that caused death.

This year the city has witnessed 19 workplace accidents, 17 at construction sites.

Faced with the dangerous situation, the Department of Construction carried out 18,725 checks of construction works and discovered 500 violations of regulations.

In particular, 85 out of the inspected 224 cases were reported without construction licenses.

Many were found to be seriously violating technical regulations.

In addition to stepping up checks, the department is also co-ordinating with the Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the police to educate developers, contractors and workers about legal provisions on labour safety.

They will carry out inspections and closely monitor labour safety at construction works to prevent accidents..VNS