DOLE-7 issues 3rd stoppage order

CEBU, Philippines —  The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-7 recently issued a work stoppage order against the owner and contractor of a project site along Archbishop Reyes Avenue, Kamputhaw, Cebu City.

DOLE-7 Regional Director Salome O. Siaton, in a statement, said that the stoppage order involved an accident that damaged eight private vehicles.

It was the third stoppage order the department has issued in August.

Siaton said that there was some concrete cement pouring activities conducted at the project site when suddenly the form works at the 31st floor of the proposed 32-storey building gave in.

"Apparently, this was the reason why some concrete cement debris fell down and hit directly the private vehicles stalled near the project site that were only waiting for the ‘go’ traffic signal,” said Siaton.

During the conduct of the Occupational Safety and Health Investigation by the labor inspectors of the DOLE Tri-City Field Office (TCFO), it was found out that the project site had no sufficient debris catchers installed.

“Mabuti nalang at walang na-injured but the incident dented those vehicles and cracked the wind shields,” she said.

According to TCFO Head Emmanuel Y. Ferrer, three labor inspectors were immediately sent to the area to conduct investigation and served the work stoppage order on the same day.

He said that the project site has no Structural Analysis, Methodology or Safety Work Procedure for related activities such as for concrete cement pouring activities and other exterior works.

There were also insufficient barricades installed in almost every floor of the building.

DOLE-7 has also added that the management failed to present their Safety Officer 3 and their Occupational Health Nurse at the construction site.

There was also no Certificate of Testing for Tower Crane and Alemak. They were likewise unable to present a TESDA NC II Certificate for their heavy equipment operators. There was also no incident/accident report made that was given to DOLE.

Under the General Labor Standards (GLS), violations noted include the Underpayment of Wages; Non-payment of Regular Holiday Pay; Non-remittance and coverage on SSS, Philhealth and PAG-IBG benefits; and No Record-Keeping such as Payroll and Daily Time Records (DTR) with workers’ signatures.

Siaton said that the construction site management, as well as its contractor, are ordered to completely stop all its form works and other similar activities particularly concrete cement pouring and other exterior works until such time that all unsafe practices have been rectified.

“They should be able to show to us full compliance to the standards first before they could resume with their operations within the project site. We have to see, evaluate, and assess that all unsafe practices exposing the workers and the general public to imminent danger conditions have been corrected,” she added.

If stoppage of work due to imminent danger occurs as a result of the employer’s violation or fault, then the employer shall pay the affected workers their corresponding wages during the period of such stoppage of work or suspension of operations, she added. — GAN (FREEMAN)