Changes in perception
The project "Trade Unions promote building occupational safety culture in the workplace in the period 2025 - 2030" is specifically guided and implemented by the Standing Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour. One of them is a common understanding of occupational safety culture.
In the current situation, the concept of Occupational Safety Culture needs to be understood as a system of values, beliefs, standards, codes of conduct and working methods shared, practiced, and maintained daily by employers, managers, and employees to ensure safety, health, and prevent occupational accidents (ATs) and occupational diseases (OCCs).
Occupational safety culture at the workplace is shown through scientific work organization, compliance with labor discipline, proactively doing the right thing, identifying and reporting risks, supporting colleagues, participating in improving working conditions, even when there is no supervision.
In particular, building a Work Safety Culture is a transition from mainly controlling and handling wrongdoings to building a system to support workers to implement correctly, maintain correct practice and actively participate in safety improvements in daily work.
The benefits of building a Safe Labor Culture not only contribute to reducing the risk of labor accidents, occupational accidents, incidents and production interruptions; reducing costs and losses for businesses and workers, but also creating a safe and healthy working environment; strengthening the trust, motivation to work and attachment of workers.
In addition, Occupational Safety Culture will improve operating discipline, work quality, labor productivity and resource efficiency; making Occupational Safety and Health an inseparable part of the production, business and corporate governance process...
4 levels of transformation at enterprises
According to the guidance of the Standing Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, to implement the Project "Trade Unions promote building occupational safety culture in the workplace in the period 2025 - 2030", the Trade Union organization plays a role in creating conditions, mobilizing, connecting, supporting, supervising and spreading so that businesses and employees proactively improve occupational safety culture, without replacing the responsibility of managing occupational safety and hygiene of employers.
Occupational safety culture is defined through 4 specific development levels. Level 1 (Formality, reaction): Occupational safety and hygiene work is only concerned after an incident occurs or when there is an inspection team. Incomplete standards, employees work mainly based on experience, personal instinct; data focuses on statistics of consequences and handling of incidents. Level 2 (Compliance, supervision): Enterprises have issued internal regulations, procedures and operating standards. Employees perform correctly mainly due to supervision and inspection. The focus of management is still on detecting and handling violations and there is a risk of reduced compliance when there is no inspection. Level 3 (Proactive): Employees consciously do the right thing even when there is no supervisor; safety becomes a habit and personal responsibility. Management staff increase their presence at the scene to support and consolidate the right behavior; management shifts focus to measuring what is done correctly. Level 4: Occupational safety and hygiene: Employees work mainly based on experience, personal instinct; concentrated data on statistics of consequences and handling of incident Colleagues proactively support and remind each other; groups analyze data, identify trends, provide early warnings and replicate good practice examples.
This 4-level framework plays a reference role in assessing the initial status quo, determining conversion objectives and monitoring changes after each cycle; does not replace inspection and examination of law compliance.
The process of promoting the building of a Work Safety Culture is directed to be implemented according to 3 consistent principles: Pre-diagnosis - Post-solution; Shifting the focus from controlling the wrong to building and maintaining the right thing to do; Deploying according to a unified ecosystem connecting management, practice, people and technology.
