The Department of Labor and Employment has amended and expanded the coverage of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS) to all establishments engaged in transportation.
In a statement sent to The FREEMAN, DOLE Secretary Marianito D. Roque said that DOLE’s Department Circular No. 2, series of 2008, amended Rule 1003.03 of the OSHS of the 1974 Labor Code of the Philippines to provide that all establishments engaged in land, sea, and air transportation are covered by the Labor Code’s OSHS.
With the amendment, however, all worksites aside from garages, dry docks, port hangars, and maintenance and repair shops of establishments engaged in land, sea, and air transportation in the country are now bound to comply with OSHS.
Previously, these said establishments are not covered by the standards except their garages, dry docks, port hangars, and maintenance and repair shops.
Roque said that it is the duty of employers, including those of establishments engaged in land, sea, and air transportation, to comply with OSHS to protect workers against the hazards of injury, sickness, or death in workplaces.
He said that protecting workers from hazardous workplaces is part of national efforts to ensure the conservation of valuable manpower resources and the prevention of loss or damage to lives and properties.
Roque stressed that any worker or concerned person may request the DOLE to inspect any establishment. If a DOLE inspector found that an imminent danger exists in a workplace, he can recommend to the DOLE regional director the issuance of an order to stop the operation.
The DOLE order, he said, usually requires specific measures that are necessary to avoid, correct, or remove the danger and to prohibit the presence of any worker in such location where the danger exists.
Any stoppage order issued by the DOLE due to OSHS violation will remain in effect until the danger is removed or corrected. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/LPM