Following the death of 38 people who were killed by a massive fire in the New City Commercial Center (NCCC) mall in Davao City on Saturday, the chairman of the Senate labor committee, Senator Joel Villanueva, on Thursday called the attention of the government for the immediate passage of the safer workplace bill.
Villanueva who is the author of the Senate Bill 1317 or “An Act Strengthening Compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Standards and Providing Penalties for Violations Thereof” which seeks to amend the OSH provision in the Labor Code, urged Senate to pass a stricter law that would penalize erring employers and impose more stringent regulations on OSH standards.
“By neglecting to comply with occupational safety and health standards, we run the risk of losing so many precious lives as proven by the recent fire tragedy in Davao. We hope that another similar incident in the future would soon be prevented by enacting a stricter law that ensures the safety and well-being of our workers, and promotes their right to safe workplaces,” Villanueva said.
“These testimonies substantiate the lack of compliance of some companies on our occupational safety and health standards,” he added.
The Labor Coalition Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) earlier slammed the firm’s failure to comply with the labor inspection standards for a safe workplace that could have spared its employees from harm if standards were followed.
“If they (Research Now SSI) could have complied with the labor inspection standards on the fire exits, sprinkler system, ventilation, lighting, noise, entry and egress specifications, and fire evacuation plan, possible harm could have been avoided,” ALU-TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay in a statement.
[READ: Labor Coalition: U.S. firm must be held liable for deadly Davao mall fire]
Furthermore, Gabriela Representative Arlene Brosas also expressed disappointment on the steady movement of the bill that is still up for the second reading.
“It’s disappointing that the Senate continues to sit on the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) bill, which was approved and transmitted by the House in December 2016, even if it’s been certified as one of the priority bills,” Brosas said.