The key to prevention and control of occupational diseases is to implement responsibility

At 9:00 on March 10th, the Fourth Plenary Session of the Eleventh National People's Congress held its second plenary meeting to hear the work report of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The meeting was clear that this year will amend the Occupational Disease Prevention Act. (Xinhua News Agency, March 10)

China has become the country with the most serious occupational disease hazards in the world. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Health, there are approximately 16 million enterprises in China that have toxic and hazardous workplaces, and about 200 million laborers are exposed to varying degrees of occupational disease hazards during the labor process. In particular, the majority of migrant workers work in small and medium-sized enterprises with serious occupational diseases. They have low wages, long working hours, and poor environment. They are becoming the main groups that suffer from occupational diseases.

In fact, as early as 2001, China introduced the Occupational Disease Prevention Law. However, this law, which aims to protect the occupational safety and health of employees, has not played its due role in reality. This law not only has major flaws, but it has not been well implemented in reality and has not been adapted to the current economic and social development. In this case, changing the law becomes an inevitable choice. So, how to amend the Occupational Disease Prevention Act? In my opinion, the implementation of government and corporate responsibility is the key.

Employees work and live on the premises provided by the company. Therefore, responsibility for prevention and treatment of occupational diseases must ultimately be implemented in enterprises. Article 30 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases stipulates that when an employer and a laborer conclude a labor contract, they shall truthfully inform workers of the occupational hazards and their consequences, occupational disease prevention measures and treatment that may arise during the work process, and in the labor contract. Make it clear that you must not hide or deceive. Article 20 stipulates that effective protective equipment for occupational diseases must be used and workers should be provided with personal protective equipment for personal use. However, these prevention and control measures have not been effectively implemented in enterprises. Many legal provisions for the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases remain on paper and become empty words. In the end, many employees have paid the price of their lives. The failure to implement corporate responsibility for prevention and control is the primary reason for the frequent occurrence of occupational disease hazards.

At the same time, some localities emphasized economic development one-sidedly, neglected occupational disease prevention and control work, and did not strictly control the introduction of construction projects. At the same time as economic development, serious occupational disease hazards occurred. There is also a problem of insufficient input in the prevention and control of occupational diseases. The number of occupational disease prevention and treatment service agencies is uneven and their distribution is uneven, which cannot meet the needs of the current prevention and treatment of occupational diseases. At the same time, in the prevention and control of occupational diseases, various government departments have not formed a joint force and there is a problem of inadequate supervision or even lack of position. The lack of attention of local governments is an important reason for the frequent occurrence of occupational disease hazards.

Therefore, in the face of the current situation of multiple occupational diseases, in the revision of the "Occupational Disease Prevention Law," we must effectively strengthen the implementation of the law and implement corporate responsibility for prevention and control. Enterprises that disregard the rights and interests of employees and cause occupational diseases must be severely punished. At the same time, occupational disease prevention should be included in the performance evaluation targets of all levels of government, linked to officials’ “shasha hats” to ensure the implementation of government responsibilities and ensure prevention and control of capital investment.