GENERAL FEMALE LABOUR and Occupational Safety and Heath
In the period of industrialization and modernization of the country and the background of the market economy, it is required to shift the labour structure strongly. The shifting of industries for farmers leads to the situation that a crowded force of general labourers without professional skills, mainly being female labourer, is developing spontaneously. They are ready to accept any work to earn living and get rid of being poor; they also may become victims due to the risk of causing accident and occupational disease at the workplace.
However, up to now, the matter of occupational safety and health for general labourers or general female labourer in the background of industrialization has not been made clearly and officially. But it is clear that in order to construct successfully an industrial country from a traditionally agricultural country, it is impossible not to pay attention to safety and health condition at the workplace of every labourer; the main human resource directly constructs and develops the country.
II. General female labourer participating in the operation mainly in non-official sector are sustaining serious impact of the risk of accident, environmental pollution and disease
II.1. General female labourer develops quickly, spontaneously, crowdedly in the non-official sector in the economy shifting the labour structure.
– Population of our country in 2009 was about 85.8 million people, about 30% the number of inhabitants lived in the city and 70% the number of inhabitants lived in rural area. The rate of male/female was 98.1/100.
In our country, in 20 years of renovation, trade villages develop spontaneously, lack of planning and being impossible to control. According to the initial investigation, there are about 1,500 trade villages, trade communes being developed according to the self-sufficient, self-supplying way, collecting fine art handicraft goods for exporting.
Small handicraft production foundations mix with residential areas or concentrate into clusters, there is no clear boundary between the production area and living area. Backward handicraft technology, old and patchy equipment, unequal professional skill among production types, shortage of skilled workers being trained comprehensively, transferred career according to the style “father transfers, child continues“ through the self-educated experience. It is this weakness that limits the capacity and product quality, leads to the decrease of competitiveness ability. The dispersion, spontaneity and small scale limited the investment into the infrastructure (road, power station, water supply and drainage…) and especially it is difficult in treating waste to reduce environmental pollution.
The structure of Vietnam labour in 1999 and 2009
| Industry group | 1999 | 2009 |
| Griculture, forestry, fishery | 64.1% | 51.7% |
| Industry and construction | 12.4% | 21.5% |
| Service | 23.5% | 26.8% |
and general census in 4/2009; )
II.2. General female labourer taking part in production activities causing pollution to working environment and living environment, impacting heavily to personal and family health.
At present, environmental pollution at the trade villages has been affecting seriously to the activities of the residential area, impacting directly to the community health.
Thousands of traditional handicraft trade villages each year produce, process millions ton of materials, scrap, and throw away hundreds ton of waste of various types, toxic gas from copper, aluminum and lead ovens, color paint, oyster inlaying (drying oven, wood, bamboo, neohouzeaua…) without being treated polluted the air environment.
Trade villages also use chemicals, heavy metals, solid and liquid waste that gradually absorbing deeply into earth’s womb, noise and gas dust exceed the permissible level.
Due to the production area and living area do not have boundary, therefore, the working environment is polluted, it affects directly to their health and other members in the family. Many diseases and accidents happen during production.
– Dong Mai village, Chi Dao commune, Van Lam district, Hung Yen province – the tradition trade village on copper casting and lead cooking, a typical case on environmental pollution and sustaining heavy consequence on health.
– Trieu Khuc trade village, Tan Trieu, Hanoi – pollution from chicken wool, duck wool, from recycling plastic, dyeing cloth, making chicken wool broom, making battledore and shuttlecock, from waste and scrap… Trieu Khuc is one of the trade villages having the most handicraft trade villages in Hanoi. Each family is a different trade such as: making thread for sewing, recycling plastic, dyeing cloth, making chicken wool broom, making battledore and shuttlecock, recycling scrap, iron, copper… The main income sources of the inhabitants there are mainly based on these trades.
II.3. General female labourer taking part in production activities in heavy, toxic, dangerous working condition, not being taken care and protected.
In the localities in Northern delta area, the spontaneous activity of producing clay brick burned by traditional brick-kilns has been attracting many general labourers on the spot, especially female labourer.
The brick-kilns of this type mostly do not have operation license, the kiln owner often employs 25 ¸ 30 female labourers. The brick-kilns are often located alternately with residential areas, coal dust smoke in the daytime as well as at night pollutes the environment seriously, causes harm to rice and farm products and affects greatly to the health of labourers and inhabitants. As working at the brick-kiln of this type, female labourer has to transport unburned bricks for drying out, transport and place bricks into the kiln, unload and transport bricks out of the kiln, clean and dredge slag at the kiln bottom…
The work has high strength, the working burden is at level V (very heavy), at the same time, female labourer has to sustain the environment polluted with coal gas CO, CO2… and the temperature from brick kiln, being hot, cold, rainy, sunny at the outdoor without being used personal protective equipments,… The more dangerous thing is that brick kilns are made full use, they are used again and again in many years, and they are too old, damaged much and have potential of collapse.
An example about typical labour accident at a brick kiln in Co Chau hamlet, Chau Can commune, Phu Xuyen district, Ha Tay province (January 2008) causing the consequence that 5 persons died on the spot, 01 person died as being given emergency aid and 4 persons were injured, had to be given emergency aid at the hospital.
II.4. General female labourer taking part in new, diversified, complex service activities in very typical working condition
For many years now, in urban areas, the career “house servant” has developed with professional brokerage centers, now, it is developing very diversified with careers: serving the whole day, serving according to hours, taking care of patient at home or in the hospital, taking care of children, leading children to school, serving with cooking, serving with tidying up the house…
All these types of service work are for general female labourer in rural areas. These are the works according to agreement relation, they are not according to time regulations, there is not regime on health insurance… many cases are ill-treated or abused. It is very difficult in managing free labourer with civil relation of this type and there is no regulation document managing this field.
In recent years, supply and demand relation has developed a service activity called “cleaning staff” service for industrial zones, hotels, office buildings, trading centers and hospitals… Nevertheless, the work pressure requires the patience for over 1 year so that staff can continue with the position of this career. The operation of this career is implemented according to a predetermined procedure and completed by many different people.
III. Matters of Occupational safety and health set up for general female labourer at present
Through the shared information, we partly imagine the situation of general female labourer, so what we can help them in term of occupational safety and health in the reality situation as we saw at first step, we would like to proposal some ideas as follows:
1. It is necessary to determine that general female labourer in our country is the object that needs to be taken care, looked after and protected. We need to unify the viewpoint that every labourer needs to be enjoyed the right to work, ensure the safety and health in the working environment and needs to determine clearly the direct roles, responsibilities and decisions of People’s Committee at levels in the locality and of Governing Ministries.
2. It is necessary to attach the work of occupational safety and health for general female labourer into National Objective Program and movement of constructing new rural area as well as attach with the hunger elimination and poverty reduction Program of the Government.
3. It is necessary to step up the activity of propagandizing, training, popularizing the law on occupational safety and health, informing communication, popularizing basic knowledge on occupational safety and health on mass media to general female labourer.
4. The management authorities on majors of health insurance, social insurance need to have policy, plan on expanding the beneficiary object of this Insurance Fund to female labourer in non-official business sectors, households, poor women in rural areas.
5. Management authority of Labour Invalids and Social Affairs industry needs to construct and promulgate Code on occupational safety and health soon, in which including typical regulations for general female labourer as well as for businesses belonging to non-official sectors./.
(Source: Dr. Nguyen The Cong-VOSHA)
