DOLE: Safety officers now mandatory in medical clinics, laboratories

Stand-alone micro health care operating facilities and laboratories nine or fewer workers are now required to have safety officers, the Department of Labor and Employment said on Thursday.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the requirement was based on the mandated Labor Advisory No. 20, Series of 2021, which aims “to further guarantee the strict observance of occupational safety and health in all workplaces.”

According to the labor advisory, it requires the compliance of stand-alone micro health care and related facilities with the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Law (Republic Act 11058), its Implementing Rules and Regulations (Department Order No. 198, Series of 2018), and the OSH standards.

The advisory said stand-alone micro health care and related facilities are those with not more than nine workers and operating independently from small, medium, and large health care and related facilities.

It includes medical and dental clinics, lying-in clinics, optical clinics, laboratories, and other similar health care and related facilities.

“Our labor inspectors are under strict order to enforce our occupational safety and health regulations. Stiff penalties shall be imposed upon employers and workers who violate them. At the same time, however, we must help them comply with the regulations,” Bello said.

Labor secretary said that the designated safety and health personnel must have completed a four-year health-related course with the necessary background on the standard of care and universal precautions.

He underscored that they must have undergone Safety Officer 1 training and occupational first aid training.

“The safety and health personnel may also be a ‘roving safety officer.’ This means they can also be assigned to a different stand-alone micro health care and related facility with the same owner or employer within the five-kilometer radius,” Bello said.

He added that DOLE Regional or Field Office shall provide technical assistance about other compliance requirements of the concerned establishments. -NB, GMA News