The Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs launched Sunday the 16th National Week on Labor Safety and Fire and Explosion Prevention and Control in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, with a view to improving labor safety and minimizing accidents at work. The event will last until March 22, focusing on the theme “Think and take action toward having no industrial accidents, occupational diseases or fires or explosions at work.” Many seminars, contests, and training courses in industrial safety will be organized in Hue City, the provincial capital, during the week. Speaking at the launching ceremony, Minister Pham Thi Hai Chuyen urged all concerned agencies to step up propaganda about industrial safety and fire prevention and control, as well as to provide more training in industrial safety, environmental protection, mitigation of climate change impacts, and fire and explosion prevention in workplaces. Each business and worker should comply with regulations on industrial safety and implement a safe working process in order to avoid hazards or risks at work, Chuyen said. More than 6,600 industrial accidents happened nationwide last year, killing 626 people and injuring over 1,500 others. The accidents caused material damage worth nearly VND72 billion (US$3.4 million). The country also saw 2,700 fires and explosions occur in 2013, leaving 100 people dead and 200 others injured, and causing a total property loss of about VND1.7 trillion ($80.2 million). Compared to 2012, the number of explosions and fires increased by 900. Employers are to blame, Minister Chuyen said, because they neither built a safe working process nor train their employees in industrial safety measures or supply them with personal protection equipment. She added that many accidents had occurred as a result of employees’ violations of work safety regulations. The fight against labor accidents have become less effective than expected because of loose management of industrial safety and tardy responses to serious accidents at work, she said.Rule breakers will be strictly penalized The organizer of the event praised and conferred certificates of merit on many localities, organizations and individuals that have gained outstanding achievements in ensuring industrial safety and fire and explosion prevention and control at the ceremony yesterday. This year all employers and employees must abide by Directive 29 of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee on strengthening industrial safety, Minister Chuyen said. They are also required to carry out the 2011-2015 national program dedicated to labor safety and hygiene.  Competent agencies must perfect the draft law on labor safety and hygiene, and submit it to the National Assembly for approval; boost training in industrial safety; and work out effective measures to minimize accidents at work. They must also strengthen inspections and strictly punish violations of labor safety regulations, the minister said, adding that violators must be made known to the public in local media. At the same launching ceremony, International Labor Organization (ILO) Vietnam Country Director Sziraczki Gyorgy said that Vietnam became the third country in Southeast Asia to join the ILO Convention 187 on the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention on March 12, 2014. This participation is a clear message that Vietnamese products are manufactured under safe conditions, which will help enhance the country’s competitiveness on the global market, Sziraczki Gyorgy remarked.