Proposal to establish a voluntary social insurance regime for occupational accidents

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs is drafting a Decree regulating voluntary social insurance for occupational accidents for employees working without a labor contract.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that workers without labor contracts account for the majority of our country's current workforce (33 million people by the end of the first quarter of 2023), contributing significantly to the country's economic and social development.

However, many workers in this sector have suffered serious work-related accidents during their work. Just counting the number of workers without a labor contract who died due to work-related accidents in the past 5 years, the average number of deaths per year is over 2,000 (nearly twice as many as the number of workers with labor contracts).

When they have a work accident, they also need treatment and support to reduce difficulties in life. Therefore, on the basis of inheriting and developing regulations from the 2012 Labor Code, the 2015 Law on Labor Safety and Hygiene has more broadly regulated the State's policy in proactively preventing work accidents, applicable to those who work without a labor contract; at the same time, Point c, Clause 3, Article 6 of the Law on Labor Safety and Hygiene stipulates: "Workers who work without a labor contract have the right to participate in voluntary labor accident insurance as prescribed by the Government".

"Voluntary occupational accident insurance" currently has commercial insurance products on occupational accidents in Vietnam being provided by insurance companies in the form of health insurance under the Law on Insurance Business and guiding documents, detailing this Law, contributing to the implementation of the policy of voluntary occupational accident insurance. However, because commercial insurance aims at profit, there are certain limitations in achieving the goal of ensuring social security for victims and their relatives (such as lack of long-term payment regime to compensate for loss of income; poor people often do not have the conditions to participate; must pay according to the committed period even when unemployed...).

Voluntary social insurance for work-related accidents in Vietnam is currently not available. Therefore, it is necessary to develop voluntary social insurance regimes for work-related accidents, on the basis of overcoming the limitations of commercial insurance, while inheriting the superiority of compulsory social insurance for work-related accidents in ensuring social security.

According to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the issuance of a Decree regulating voluntary social insurance for occupational accidents for employees working without labor contracts is necessary, contributing to synchronizing policies in ensuring social security as prescribed in Articles 34 and 59 of the 2013 Constitution.

Regimes for employees participating in voluntary occupational accident insurance

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has drafted a Decree regulating voluntary social insurance for occupational accidents for employees working without labor contracts, consisting of 6 chapters and 39 articles, on the basis of inheriting part of the provisions of compulsory social insurance for occupational accidents in the Law on Labor Safety and Hygiene and the Law on Social Insurance; at the same time, amending and supplementing to suit the management method of voluntary insurance and actual implementation conditions.

The draft stipulates three basic regimes that employees participating in voluntary occupational accident insurance are entitled to, similar to participating in compulsory social insurance. It is expected that after a period of implementation, it will be summarized and evaluated to expand and add other regimes as appropriate.
The prescribed regimes include: Assessment of the level of labor capacity loss (Article 5 of the draft); One-time allowance, monthly allowance and service allowance (Articles 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the draft); Support for living aids and orthopedic devices (Article 10 of the draft).

Similar to compulsory social insurance, the draft stipulates cases of occupational accidents that are and are not covered by insurance (Article 4). An occupational accident is determined based on the provisions of Clause 8, Article 3 of the Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene, which “is an accident that causes injury to any part or function of the body or causes death to the employee, occurring during the work process, related to the performance of work and work tasks”.

In addition, the draft clearly states the regulations on voluntary occupational accident insurance funds; documents, procedures for participation, and settlement of voluntary occupational accident insurance regimes...

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