Atty. Gregorio B. Austral, CPA
The Right to Occupational Safety
When a person reports to work, he does so to earn a living for himself and his family. In other words, he works because he wants to live and not to die in the line of duty. Each job, however, has accompanying risks. Construction workers are exposed to the possibility of sustaining injuries or death since this kind of work has higher risk compared to other occupation in the same way that hospital workers have a higher risk of contracting infectious diseases than workers in other places. Factory workers also have their own share of occupational risks as they toil everyday to feed their families.
In the interest of the service, workers are willing to take and assume these risks as part of their job. The risk, however, can be aggravated by the employer’s neglect in providing ample protection for their workers. Although the Labor Code already contains provision requiring employers to provide for the occupational safety of the workers, compliance is still low. In response to the clamor for a safer working environment, Congress enacted Republic Act No. 11058, otherwise known as the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Law.
R.A. 11058 lays down the policy that the State shall ensure a safe and healthful workplace for all working people by affording them full protection against all hazards in their work environment.
The law imposes the duty to every employer, contractor or subcontractor, if any, and any person who manages, controls or supervises the work being undertaken to furnish the workers a place of employment free from hazardous conditions that are causing or are likely to cause death, illness or physical harm to the workers, to give complete job safety instructions or orientation to all the workers, to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health standards, to provide for measures to deal with emergencies and accidents, among others. Under this new law, the right to safety and health at work is guaranteed. The law also gives the worker the right to refuse unsafe work.
The employer, project owner, general contractor, contractor or subcontractor and any person who manages, controls or supervises the work undertaken shall be jointly and severally liable for compliance with the law. The law also provides for stiffer administrative penalty in case of failure to comply with the OSH standards.
The law has good intention of protecting every worker who is exposed to the hazards of work from the perils therein. Although accidents do happen, seldom can we say that the worker’s death is purely bad luck. Workers die at the work sites not because of pure bad luck but because somebody failed in their duty to protect them. He who is the cause of exposing the workers to an unnecessary risks must be held responsible for injuries suffered by the workers.
Let us hope that the law will provide us with a safer working environment.