To protect the occupational health of workers needs to cross the "four hurdles"

　　my country is the country with the largest working population in the world. New occupational health hazards are constantly emerging. Physical and psychological problems caused by diseases and work pressure are becoming more prominent. Occupational health problems caused by exposure to various hazards in the workplace are still serious.

　　How to strictly implement the employer's main responsibility for occupational disease prevention?

How to further improve occupational disease prevention and control regulations?

What are the responsibilities of relevant departments?

Facing a series of occupational health challenges, the representative committee believes that protecting the occupational health and safety of workers needs to cross the "four hurdles"-diagnosis is difficult, punishment needs to be strengthened, main responsibility is not in place, and self-protection awareness is insufficient, so as to effectively prevent And control the occurrence of occupational diseases.

　　Difficulty in diagnosis: Breaking through the difficulties requires indiscriminate treatment

　　"Pneumoconiosis is first and foremost a disease, and there is no problem with the diagnosis." Chen Jingyu, deputy dean of the National People's Congress and vice president of Wuxi People's Hospital, was hailed as "the first lung transplant in China."

The diagnosis of pneumoconiosis bothers the sick migrant workers, and also makes Representative Chen Jingyu worry.

　　According to statistics, as of the end of 2019, the total number of occupational diseases nationwide has reached nearly 990,000.

Among them, nearly nine are occupational pneumoconiosis.

Although the national level attaches great importance to the problem of pneumoconiosis and has launched a series of pragmatic measures, representative Chen Jingyu found that there are still some problems that have not been resolved in actual operations. The most prominent is the diagnosis of occupational diseases for pneumoconiosis migrant workers.

　　In reality, pneumoconiosis migrant workers suffer from the double lack of work-related injury insurance and general medical insurance.

Some representatives noted that according to my country’s current policies, since most pneumoconiosis is an occupational disease, once a patient is diagnosed with a “pneumoconiosis” diagnosis, it will need to go through a long work injury identification and cannot enjoy general medical insurance.

On the other hand, due to the late onset of pneumoconiosis from 10 to 20 years, the high mobility of workers, and the lack of signing labor contracts, it is difficult to confirm the labor relationship that is the basis for the identification of work-related injuries, and patients with pneumoconiosis cannot successfully obtain occupational disease identification. And workers' compensation.

　　"At present, there are not many areas in the country that can provide better medical protection for patients with pneumoconiosis. To make it easier for patients to receive medical reimbursement, most hospitals know that patients are pneumoconiosis, but they should also write'pneumonia, emphysema' to facilitate Including general medical insurance, so that patients can get treatment as soon as possible." Representative Chen Jingyu said.

　　In this regard, Li Dehong, who was once the chief expert of the Occupational Hygiene and Poisoning Control Institute of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, believes that occupational diseases only need to emphasize "produced in work activities." "Pneumoconiosis is caused by exposure to dust at work and is caused by It is an occupational disease caused by his occupation."

　　"Occupational diseases should be recognized and treated without distinction." The deputies called for all occupational disease patients, including pneumoconiosis migrant workers, to be fully integrated into the social assistance platform, timely screening, and early intervention in the lives of sick workers. Allow them to receive effective treatment.

　　Increasing punishment: the crime of ineffective prevention and control of occupational diseases is added to the "Criminal Law"

　　"The Criminal Law should add the crime of ineffective prevention of occupational diseases and increase deterrence." Yan Huiying, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and member of the Central Committee of the Jiu San Society, who has long been concerned about occupational disease hazards, suggested.

　　Relevant data show that about 12 million enterprises in my country have occupational hazards.

Member Yan Huiying stated that the current laws in our country do not effectively prevent occupational diseases and cause serious injuries, and the punishment is still not severe enough.

Therefore, it is recommended that the "Criminal Law" clarify that if the employer causes a major occupational disease hazard accident or other serious consequences, which constitutes a crime, the principal responsible person shall bear criminal responsibility.

　　In response to new situations and problems in the field of labor relations, more representatives and committee members believe that the "Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law" should be revised in a timely manner.

In response, Member Yan Huiying also submitted a proposal to amend the "Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law", suggesting to amend the definition of occupational diseases, strengthen the protection of workers, and weaken the need for proof of labor relations.

　　Member Yan Huiying believes that the burden of proof in the diagnosis of occupational diseases should be clarified. The employer should prove that the causal relationship between the disease and the employment environment does not exist. When the employer fails to carry out relevant work in accordance with the law, it should bear the adverse consequences when it is unable to provide proof. .

　　At the same time, Member Yan Huiying suggested that the "Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law" should further strengthen the supervision of enterprises, raise occupational health management to the same level as safe production, and pursue legal responsibility for enterprises that fail to implement occupational health management in accordance with the law; Enterprises with occupational hazards clearly require occupational health responsibility to be assigned to people, and specify the occupational health management personnel, number and investment funds that should be provided according to the size of the enterprise; companies that do not have occupational health and safety conditions to force production are ordered to correct or suspend operations for rectification .

　　Wang Xiaofeng, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Minister of Labor and Economic Affairs of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, suggested establishing an employer’s occupational health integrity system, including the implementation of the employer’s main responsibilities in key industries and important fields into the evaluation system, and recording the failure to implement the main responsibilities as untrustworthy behavior .

　　Responsibility for implementation: the employer should assume the main responsibility for the prevention and control of occupational diseases

　　Occupational disease prevention, prevention is the key, and the employer is the main body.

In recent years, the occupational health conditions in workplaces have gradually improved, but the problem of insufficient implementation of the main responsibilities of some employers still exists, especially the lack of awareness of occupational disease prevention and control by the heads of some small, medium and micro enterprises, weak management foundations, and irregular employment. Insufficient investment in environment, provision of protective equipment, and organization of occupational health inspections.

　　In response, member Wang Xiaofeng submitted a proposal to further implement the main responsibility of employers for the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases, so that workers can share the fruits of reform and development.

　　Member Wang Xiaofeng suggested that the relevant departments should further strengthen supervision and strengthen supervision and management from the aspects of pre-prevention, protection and management in the labor process, diagnosis and guarantee.

At the same time, supervise employers to create working environment and conditions for workers that meet national occupational health standards and hygiene requirements, implement occupational disease prevention measures, and control and eliminate occupational disease hazards from the source; establish and improve the responsibility system for occupational disease prevention and control, and clarify that occupational disease prevention and control work should be the main task. The person in charge is fully responsible, setting up or appointing a specialized agency, and assigning full-time and part-time personnel to be specifically responsible; improving the management system and operating procedures, regularly organizing occupational health inspections, and establishing health monitoring files for employees; signing labor contracts with employees, including necessary labor Safety and health clauses, participation in work-related injury insurance, to ensure that workers enjoy work-related injury insurance benefits in accordance with the law, and so on.

　　Some representatives also pointed out that relevant departments should strengthen strict law enforcement, strengthen the monitoring of key occupational diseases and occupational hazard factors, improve the professional level of the law enforcement team for occupational disease prevention and control, and seriously investigate and deal with employers' illegal activities.

At the same time, continue to carry out special governance actions in key industries and urge employers to actively reduce occupational hazards through technological transformation and upgrading.

　　Self-protection: Incorporate occupational health classes into compulsory education content

　　"Incorporate occupational health classes into compulsory education." National People's Congress representative and film director Jia Zhangke and National People's Congress representative and deputy director of the Guizhou Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention He Lin made this proposal.

　　Representative Jia Zhangke said that in his memory, the factory was equipped with dust masks, but some workers felt that they were boring and would not wear them. They regretted that they suffered from occupational diseases.

"From this perspective, education and prevention are very important to prevent occupational diseases from the source." He suggested that occupational health education courses should be set up in the compulsory education stage to popularize basic occupational health knowledge and protection knowledge.

　　In response, Representative He Lin agreed and believed that occupational health education should be implemented.

　　The "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)" clearly requires that the opening rate of physical education and health courses in primary and secondary schools reach 100%.

　　However, representative He Lin noticed in the investigation that the school health education textbooks are not standardized, and the self-selected textbooks are varied, the school health education class schedule is too flexible, the opening rate is insufficient, and even the phenomenon of frequent occupation.

At the same time, there is a shortage of professional health education teachers, and the course effects are not ideal.

　　Representative He Lin suggested that health education should be included in the comprehensive evaluation system of the entrance examination for elementary and middle school students to establish health awareness, master health knowledge, and develop healthy habits among young people, thereby promoting their overall and healthy growth.

　　Committee member Wang Xiaofeng suggested to strengthen the publicity and education of occupational disease prevention among workers, through the "Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law" publicity week, "Safety Production Month" and other activities, increase publicity and education, and create a strong atmosphere of care, attention, and support for occupational disease prevention.

Employers should strengthen the training of occupational disease hazards and emergency response knowledge and skills, and improve workers' occupational health awareness and self-protection capabilities.

　　(This paper, Beijing, March 10th)

　　Further reading

　　What are the occupational diseases and what should I do if I get an occupational disease?

　　1. What are the legal occupational diseases in my country?

　　The statutory occupational diseases in my country mainly include occupational pneumoconiosis and other respiratory diseases, occupational skin diseases, occupational eye diseases, occupational ENT diseases, occupational chemical poisoning, occupational diseases caused by physical factors, occupational radiation diseases, and occupational infections. There are 132 kinds of diseases, occupational tumors, and other occupational diseases in 10 categories.

For details, please refer to the "Classification and Catalog of Occupational Diseases".

　　2. What should workers do if they suspect that they have an occupational disease?

　　If a worker suspects that he has an occupational disease, he may apply for an occupational disease diagnosis to a medical and health institution that is responsible for the diagnosis of occupational diseases in accordance with the law in the place of the employer, the place of his household registration or the place of habitual residence.

In the diagnosis of occupational diseases, the following factors will be integrated: the patient's occupational history; the occupational hazard exposure history and the occupational hazard factors in the workplace; clinical manifestations and auxiliary examination results, etc.

　　3. The employer does not cooperate with the diagnosis, what should the worker do?

　　In the process of occupational disease diagnosis and identification, if the employer does not provide information such as the detection results of occupational hazard factors in the workplace, the diagnosis and identification agency shall combine the laborer’s clinical manifestations, auxiliary examination results, and the laborer’s occupational history and occupational hazard exposure history, and Refer to the employee's self-reports, the daily supervision and inspection information provided by the occupational health supervision and management department, etc., to make occupational disease diagnosis and appraisal conclusions.

　　If a worker disagrees with the inspection results of occupational disease hazards in the workplace provided by the employer, or if the employer dissolves or goes bankrupt, and no employer provides the above-mentioned materials, the diagnosis and appraisal agency shall submit it to the administrative department of health for investigation.

　　(Source: Baijiahao, China Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

Zheng Li