Vimico copper smelting plant focuses on employee health, safety

Vimico copper smelting plant focuses on employee health, safety

In the early months of 2021, the complicated developments of Covid-19 significantly affected workers of the Lao Cai Copper Smelting Company owned by the Vinacomin Minerals Holding Corporation (Vimico). However, the company and its trade union undertook various activities that both ensured continued production and workers’ health.

Stabilizing workers' lives

According to a report by the trade union of the Lao Cai Copper Smelting Company, the company’s more than 1,000 employees now have labor contracts. Female employees account for 20.15 percent of the workforce. Employees’ average monthly income in the first 10 months of 2021 was nearly VND12 million each.

In addition to securing job stability, the company and its trade union has a dormitory for 193 employees free of charge, where they live comfortably and receive support for working in a toxic environment.

These practical and effective activities served to motivate workers, ensuring that the company’s targets in the first 10 months were all completed as planned while the product quality was stable. It also ensured occupational safety and health (OSH), with no occupational accidents or equipment breakdowns.

Ensuring safety during pandemic

To ensure both production and prevention, the company and its trade union implemented effective control measures to prevent infection in the community.

The company was ready to respond, detect and isolate infections in a timely manner, strictly implementing the instructions of the Ministry of Health. At the same time, it coordinated with CDC Lao Cai to organize professional training to handle the epidemic, for example on ways to take samples for the virus tests.

All employees, customers, and business partners arriving at the company have their body temperature measured and fill in medical declarations. Those who record a high body temperature are refused entry. The company also regularly disinfects working locations, canteens, vehicles, bathrooms, the office blocks, and the dormitory twice a week.

The company has researched to produce its own automatic disinfectant sprayers and disinfectant solution. Only two people are allowed to sit at each dining table in the canteens, and they are divided by mica partitions. Workers must disinfect their hands before meals. The company has established a temporary isolation area with 14 isolation rooms at the staff dormitory; prepared all necessary equipment to ensure admissions into isolation under the direction of the Steering Committee of Lao Cai Province, developed disease prevention plans and organized drills of pandemic prevention and control. So far, the unit has taken over 900 rapid Covid-19 test samples from employees, agents, customers, partners, experts, drivers and shippers.

In the first 10 months of 2021, the total amount spent on the pandemic prevention and control was VND1.386 billion. The unit also supported 12 affected workers during the 14-day quarantine period with total wages of more than VND22 million, donated VND300 million to Lao Cai province’s vaccine fund and VND54.69 million to employees affected by the pandemic.

VietNam Economic News