Labour Inspection from Group to Specialised Inspection

The fact that the insuffi­ciency of labour inspectors in terms of both quantity and capacity is a concern: in terms of quantity, labour inspectors do not meet the requirement of inspection and supervision of all enterprises. Moreover, their capacity is also limited as none of them are trained in all 3 fields including labour policy inspec­tion, occupational safety inspec­tion and occupational health inspection, but one of these. Therefore, the number of inspec­tors is restricted and inspection has shown some shortcomings, particularly in the method of group inspection, where the number of group members is large (consisting at least of 2 inspectors, sometimes of seven ones) while the efficiency is not high. On the other hand, as the scope of inspection is nation­ wide, inspectors are not sure of the situation and characteristics of econom ic, political and social features of various localities, inspection conclusions are usually dogmatic, inefficient. Many serious law violations have happened without main respon­ sible organizations, bodies or individuals. This also leats to current difficulty that the number of inspectors does not meet the requirement of the development of life, production and of the society, especially the rapid development of various forms of enterprises has increased labour relations and making it more complicated. Meanwhile, narro­ wing State administrative perso­ nnel is a compulsory requirement of administrative reform. There­ fore, finding out a new, orderly, efficient method of inspection and supervision over the compliance with labour laws in enterprises is an urgent need at this time. From the aspect of laws, the amended and supplemented Labour Code 2002 stipulates that "State Labour Inspection has a function of inspecting the compliance with policies on labour, occupational safety and health". Item 2, Article 187 also provides the right of labour inspectors "who are allowed to inspect, investigate the places within their assignment without prior notice at any time". Item 2 Article 50 of the Inspec­ tion Law stipulates that "specialized inspectors during their independent inspection must show their specialized inspector card and have rights and obligations in accordance with laws".

Based on the above prac­ tical and theoretical requirements, the Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs issued Decision No 199/2005/QD-BLDTBXH dated 7 March 2005 on issuing the temporary Regulations on State inspection in the form of region-in-charge inspectors with the aim of expanding the scope and increasing the frequency of inspection at enterprises. In realizing this Decision, the Ministry Labour Inspectorate has grasped the requirement and spirit of the new form of region-in­ charge inspection, piloting in 11 provinces and cities and eight corporations.

In implementing policy of renewing the mechanism of inspection, changing from group inspection to region-in-charge inspection combined with the use of self-check sheets, inspection in the provinces and cities for piloting has been actively under­ taken. According to the report on region-in-charge inspection at the Meeting of Inspection of the labour, invalids and social affairs in December 2005, there were initially 2,477 enterprises had been provided with self-check sheets, accounting for 2.1 % of enterprises under supervision. Among 1,455 enterprises having reported results of self-checks, 238 have been selected and inspected by region-in-charge inspectors and by provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. In fact, the selected enterprises agreed and highly appreciated the Ministry's policy, particularly in corpo­ rations where nearly 100% of enterprises have carried out self­ checks and made reports.

Initially assessing the results of policy on region-in-charge inspection:

This is a new policy gene­ rated from legal foundations and practical and objective requir­ements of corporate management which is carried out by provinces and cities with a high consent. Especially, selected enterprises for piloting have expressed their agreement and appreciation of this policy. It can be said that the renewal of inspection method from group inspection to region­ in-charge inspectors will meet the objective of expanding the scope of inspection and increasing inspection frequency. With the former method, one enterprise might be inspected every 40 years while with the new one, it is forecasted that labour inspectors nationwide are able to inspect dozens of thousands of enter­ prises per year, meaning every 10 years for each enterprise. How­ever, this is a new method applied for the first time, the, imple­ mentation is still inefficient. Moreover, inspectors have to be involved in many other tasks as well, which can also affect the quality of inspection. Besides, self-check sheets still include inappropriate contents and lack some basic stipulations as they are in their trial period. Defining precise number of enterprises that are under operation and get to know their locations as well as the number of workers to deliver self-check sheets is also difficult since labour management is not good; some businesses have registered but not operated or changed their address without informing functional bodies.

In conclusion, changing from group inspection to region­ in-charge inspector method should be further studied, analyzed and assessed to adjust self-check criteria to be conformable with the practical situation of enterprises but should be simple, user-friendly and able to reflect adequately and accurately regulations in the Labour Code in both quantitative and qualitative aspects. By doing so can the implementation of the method of region-in-charge inspector and application of self-test sheets in enterprises be carried out effi­ciently ./.

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