DOLE deploys 5K inspectors to ensure workers’ safety

FILE: Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III during a press conference on Thursday (Sept. 27, 2018), which is held at the DOLE main office in Intramuros, Manila. (PNA photo by Gil Calinga)

MANILA – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has deployed around 5,000 inspectors to ensure workplaces’ compliance with occupational health and safety standards for Filipino workers.

“We have mobilized 5,000 occupational health inspectors and safety. We need to ensure that workplaces are safe for our workers in order to avoid transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19),” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in a Laging Handa briefing on Friday.

Bello warned that those who would be caught violating minimum health standards may result in the closure of the establishment.

“If they will not follow we can recommend stoppage of operation,” he said.

Asked if there were establishments that were given warnings due to non-compliance, Bello said some of them assured to take immediate action.

“In fairness to the companies that have been told that what they are doing is wrong, they immediately correct it since they know that if they will not follow we can order stoppage of their operation,” Bello added.

In August, the DOLE and the Department of Trade and Industry released guidelines on Covid-19 prevention and control in workplaces as part of efforts to revive the economy which has been affected by the pandemic.