DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 November) — Is your workplace safe?
For companies to be more productive and safe, they should have a safety
officer for every 200 employees. For the “highly hazardous” work set-up, it
should be one for every 50, said lawyer Ma. Brenda Villafuerte, director of
the Department of Labor and Employment’s Bureau of Working Conditions.
The ideal set-up, however, is not being followed.
A constraint is the lack of government safety personnel to monitor violating
firms. Villafuerte told the Kapihan sa SM City press conference Monday.
She said government cannot afford to hire enough safety officers due to budget
constraints.
A substantial number of safety workers have also left for abroad where the pay
is higher, she added. Read full story here.
> Ma. Brenda Villafuerte, director of
the Department of Labor and Employment’s Bureau of Working Conditions: “the lack of government safety personnel (is a constraint) to monitor(ing) violating firms–government cannot afford to hire enough safety officers due to budget
constraints.”
RHETORICAL QUESTION: What then makes her think that private companies are not under the same constraints?