CITY OF SAN FERNANDO –The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) here has shut down two firms where 12 workers were recently pinned to death by a collapsed wall in Barangay Ilang-Ilang in Guiguinto, Bulacan.
DOLE Regional Director Ana Dione also said her agency is set to file charges against Number One Golden Dragon (Golden Dragon) Realty Corp. and Hoclim Co Construction Corp. (Hoclim) for “all violations related to the safety and social welfare of the workers and affected civilians resulting to death and injury as amended in the Labor Code of the Philippines and Occupational Safety and Health Standards.”
Dione issued last Tuesday the Cease and Desist Order (CDO) against the two firms following inspections at the accident site that revealed se-rious violations of the Labor Law.
“Based on the ocular inspection at the accident site conducted by our team, they found out that it was the right side wall of the on-going warehouse construction that collapsed right above the quarters of the workers.
It is approximately seven meters high and 20 meters wide. It happened during their lunch break,” Dione said. She recalled that “it took approximately eight hours to retrieve the victims, as the construction firms had no response team to take immediate action during the incident.”
She noted “the absence of supervisors such as engineers, safety officers, and the like who are supposed to be in charge of overseeing the construction as well as representative from the principal at the accident area.” “Both firms shall be held liable.
We have issued this CDO, which is effective until further notice to both companies because we are serious when it comes to the safety and welfare of our workers. Safety should be practiced at the workplace at all times,” Dione stressed.
The DOLE team also reported “incomplete concrete pouring in the foot-tie beam to strengthen the structure; insufficient reinforcement bars and stirrups installed at the column, beam, and wall structure.”
It noted that the “type of concrete mixture for the columns and beams do not meet specifications and backfilling was not properly observed to stabilize the movement of the concrete wall structure. There was also no proper evaluation of the soil-bearing capacity.”
“There was no proper engineering and safety supervision to validate and implement the correct engineering standardsand work procedures for the nature of work and the volume of rain occurred contributes additional load pressure to the lower portion of the concrete wall structure,” the team also observed.
Dione said the CDO would be indefinite. “The principal and subcontractor must submit a number of requirements including employer’s accident- illness report, incident report, police report, medical abstract, employment recordor contract, corrective work methodology, and proof of salary payment and remittance to Social Security System, Pag-IBIG, and PhilHealth before we can consider lifting the CDO,” she added.
Both companies have also been told to attend a conference hearing with DOLE Technical Support and Service Division for Labor Relations and Labor Standards on January 23 to address the issues and concerns pertaining to the incident.
