On June 18, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor organized a training session to implement the Project "Trade Unions promote building occupational safety culture in the workplace in the period 2025 - 2030" for central industry trade unions, corporation trade unions directly under the General Confederation, and at the same time collected comments on the draft guidelines for implementing some contents of the project.
Speaking at the opening, Standing Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Ngo Duy Hieu affirmed that labor safety is a key task of the trade union organization in representing and protecting legitimate and lawful rights and interests and caring for workers. In the current context of socio-economic development, safety at the workplace needs to be elevated to a cultural level, present in all behaviors, thoughts and daily activities of both workers and employers.
The process of implementing the project to the grassroots level will face many difficulties, from building models, propagating, and mobilizing workers to participate to determining the content of occupational safety culture. Therefore, trade union levels need to firmly grasp the spirit of the project, discuss specific solutions so that safety behaviors become regular and voluntary actions of workers.
The core goal is to turn labor safety from a movement or obligation into a highly voluntary cultural behavior. The Trade Union strives to become a pioneer force in building a safe culture in the workplace," Standing Vice Chairman Ngo Duy Hieu emphasized.
According to representatives of the Labor Relations Department, Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the project is built on the basis of collecting opinions from trade union levels and experts. The General Confederation has twice requested opinions from the Presidium of the General Confederation (now the Standing Committee), organized two workshops with trade union officials at all levels and experts, and at the same time collected written opinions from localities with large concentrations of workers and industries at high risk of labor accidents.
Especially the implementation of Directive 31-CT/TW (2024) of the Secretariat on continuing to strengthen the Party's leadership over occupational safety and health in the new situation.
In 2025, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor approved the project and deployed it to localities, sectors and affiliated corporations.
The project was issued stemming from the current situation of occupational safety and health that does not meet practical requirements. According to incomplete statistics, about 9,000 labor accidents occur annually nationwide, causing about 900 deaths. However, experts believe that the actual number may be higher because currently less than 10% of businesses report labor accidents.
Currently, more than 30,000 people are enjoying occupational disease insurance benefits. Notably, many diseases arising from the working environment have not yet been included in the list of benefits, causing workers to suffer many disadvantages.
The project is built on the basis of resolutions and directives of the Party, especially Directive No. 31 of the Secretariat on strengthening the Party's leadership over occupational safety and health in the new situation. Although the 2015 Law on Occupational Safety and Health has mentioned building a safety culture, after 10 years of implementation, there is still a lack of specific guidance on the content and methods of implementation.
Representatives of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor said that the project aims to better ensure the right to work in safe conditions for workers; shifting from a movement-based approach to a substantive approach, focusing on preventing labor accidents, occupational diseases and taking care of workers' health.
The goal is to make occupational safety and health a self-need and top priority for both businesses and workers; form the habit of "thinking about safety" before starting work, thereby contributing to building harmonious, stable and sustainable labor relations.
Specific targets for each stage
Phase 1 (2025 - 2027):
100% of the Provincial and City Labor Federations and central industry trade unions issued plans to implement the project (striving to complete it in 2026).
100% of localities and sectors deploy propaganda on building a labor safety culture to the grassroots level.
Organize knowledge training for 70% of officials working in safety and 50% of safety and hygiene staff (equivalent to more than 100,000 people).
Phase 2 (2028 - 2030):
100% of trade union officials working in safety work are trained in occupational safety culture.
100% of grassroots trade unions are propagated about labor safety culture.
At least 80% of the network of safety and hygiene workers are trained.
Each Provincial and City Labor Federation, central industry trade union, and directly affiliated corporation trade union should build at least 5 typical models of occupational safety culture in the workplace.
