1. Employers’ Obligations under the Law
Article 138 of the 2019 Labour Code clearly stipulates: employers are obliged to ensure safe and hygienic working conditions; implement measures to prevent occupational accidents and diseases; provide adequate personal protective equipment; and organize occupational safety and hygiene training.
Accordingly, the central responsibility of employers is not only to address consequences when accidents occur, but primarily to proactively prevent risks for employees.
2. When the Duty of Prevention is Not Fully Performed
In practice, many occupational accidents stem from enterprises neglecting or only superficially implementing preventive measures, such as:
- Failing to conduct regular occupational safety training.
- Not providing adequate protective equipment.
- Forcing employees to work under unsafe conditions (excessive overtime, hazardous environments, extreme weather).
When these preventive obligations are violated, and damage occurs to employees, the enterprise incurs a duty of compensation under the 2015 Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene and related regulations.
3. The Boundary Between the Duty of Prevention and the Duty of Compensation
- Duty of Prevention: A mandatory and proactive obligation aimed at preventing accidents and occupational diseases before they occur. This duty is continuous and does not depend on whether harm has happened.
- Duty of Compensation: Arises only after damage has occurred. Its nature is to remedy financial loss but can never fully restore an employee’s health or life.
Thus, the duty of prevention and the duty of compensation are complementary but not interchangeable. If employers focus solely on compensation while neglecting prevention, they effectively violate the law and undermine the deterrent effect of the occupational safety regime.
4. Recommendations for Legal Improvement
Currently, sanctions for violations of preventive obligations remain insufficiently strict, leading many enterprises to opt for “paying compensation” rather than investing in safety measures. This contradicts the principle of protecting employees’ lives and health.
To address this, it is necessary to:
- Increase administrative and criminal penalties for violations of preventive duties, especially in construction, mining, and chemical sectors.
- Introduce punitive damages for cases where enterprises deliberately fail to implement safety measures, thereby strengthening compliance pressure.
- Strengthen regular and ad-hoc inspections, and make results publicly available to enhance corporate social responsibility.
5. Conclusion
Ensuring occupational safety is not only a legal obligation but also an ethical and social responsibility of enterprises. Compensation should be seen as a “last resort”, while prevention must serve as the “first line of defense.” To safeguard employees’ rights, the law must impose sufficiently strong sanctions to ensure that enterprises choose investment in safety over paying the price of accidents.
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