New labor policy takes effect from December 2023

1. Rest time for workers doing special jobs in the field of offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation

The Minister of Industry and Trade issued Circular 20/2023/TT-BCT dated November 8, 2023 regulating working hours and rest hours for employees doing special jobs in the field of offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation.

Accordingly, rest time for workers doing special jobs in the field of offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation is guided as follows:

- After each shift, workers are arranged to rest continuously for at least 10 hours before starting a new shift.

- The employer is responsible for arranging breaks between working hours to be included in working hours, in which the total break time between working hours must be at least 60 minutes and must ensure that the break time is at least 30 consecutive minutes, and that workers working at night must have a break time of at least 45 consecutive minutes.

- In addition to the break between shifts, after each working session, regular employees are arranged to have consecutive days off equal to the number of working days in the previous working session.

- Employees who work irregularly are arranged to take leave in accordance with the work situation, at the following rate:

+ Working on offshore oil and gas projects on weekdays: 1 working day at sea is compensated with half a working day off;

+ Working on offshore oil and gas projects on weekly days off: 1 working day at sea is compensated with 1 working day off;

+ Working on offshore oil and gas projects on holidays and Tet: 1 working day at sea is compensated with 2 working days off.

2. Amending a number of regulations on labor safety technical inspection activities under the management authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade

On October 31, 2023, the Minister of Industry and Trade issued Circular 18/2023/TT-BCT amending and abolishing a number of articles of the Circular regulating labor safety technical inspection activities under the management authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Accordingly, a number of articles of Circular 09/2017/TT-BCT regulating labor safety technical inspection activities under the management authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade are amended by Circular 18/2023/TT-BCT, for example as follows:

* Clause 2, Article 3 of Circular 09/2017/TT-BCT is amended and supplemented as follows:

Group B inspection subjects (Group B) include:

- Inspection objects of group B1 (group B1) are industrial boilers with pressure above 16 bar.

- Inspection objects of group B2 (group B2) are pressure vessels, steam and hot water pipeline systems.

* Article 7 of Circular 09/2017/TT-BCT regulating inspectors is amended and supplemented as follows:

Inspectors must meet the standards specified in Article 9 of Decree 44/2016/ND-CP detailing a number of articles of the 2015 Law on Labor Safety and Hygiene on technical inspection of labor safety, labor safety and hygiene training and labor environment monitoring and Article 2 of Decree 140/2018/ND-CP amending and supplementing Decrees related to investment and business conditions and administrative procedures under the state management of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

* Article 10 of Circular 09/2017/TT-BCT on training, fostering and testing forms is amended and supplemented as follows:

- Post-training examination, applicable to: Individuals applying for the first time to be granted an inspector certificate, inspectors whose certificates have been revoked, inspectors whose certificates have expired.

- Post-training examination is applied to certified inspectors at least once within 36 months from the date of certification.....

3. Conditions for determining people exposed to HIV due to occupational accidents

On September 22, 2023, the Prime Minister issued Decision 24/2023/QD-TTg on conditions for identifying people exposed to HIV and people infected with HIV due to occupational accidents.

Accordingly, people identified as being exposed to HIV due to occupational accidents must meet the following conditions:

- While on duty, one of the following accidents occurs:

+ Blood, blood products or body fluids of an HIV-infected person come into direct contact with mucous membranes or damaged skin;

+ Blood, blood products or body fluids of an unknown HIV-infected person come into direct contact with mucous membranes or damaged skin.

- Have a negative HIV test result performed by a testing facility in accordance with the law on medical examination and treatment.

Blood samples used for HIV testing must be taken from people who have occupational accidents within 72 hours from the time of the accident as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 2 of Decision 24/2023/QD-TTg.