DOLE to Visit Over 800,000 Establishments

●Visit aims to ensure compliance with all labor laws and occupational health and safety standards.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz on Sunday said she has issued general authority to 426 Labor Law Compliance Officers (LLCOs) to visit a total of 76,766 establishments all over the country this year to ensure their compliance with all labor laws and occupational health and safety standards.

“Following President Aquino III’s directive to ‘strictly enforce our labor laws to ensure the protection of our workers,’ we have deployed 426 LLCOs to carry out the President’s instruction,” said Baldoz.

The fully-trained LLCOs, armed with electronic gadgets as called for under the new Labor Laws Compliance System embodied in D.O. No. 131, Series of 2013, are envisioned to cover the target establishments, thereby enhancing the DOLE’s capability to expand its direct assistance and facilitation services for these companies to fully comply with labor laws, including occupational health and safety standards and anti-child labor regulations.

Baldoz said 372 of the 426 LLCOs occupy new positions granted by President Aquino III on Labor Day in 2012.

The 372 new LLCOs have undergone intensive, four-level training programs consisting of the following courses: (1) Basic Course on General Labor Standards, Productivity, and DOLE Programs and Services; (2) Basic Occupational Safety and Health; (3) Advanced Course for LLCOs on the Single Entry Approach, Conciliation-Mediation, and Accident Investigation; and (4) Specialization Courses on Construction Safety, Social Audit, Boilers and Pressure Vessels, Electrical Safety, and Technical Safety Inspection.

The new LLCOs will use an online, web-based application system for transmitting and processing real-time data collected from the field using an electronic checklist embedded in the LLCOs’ electronic gadgets–Android-loaded i-pads.

“This system is the first in the world. This is a 21st century approach to labor inspection,” Baldoz said.

For 2014, Baldoz said the establishments to be assessed by the LLCOs are in the following regions: National Capital Region, 33,411 establishments; CAR, 852; Region 1–2,038; Region 2–1,018; Region 3–6,649; Region 4-A–8,880; Region 4-B–1,073; Region 5–1,738; Region 6–3,906; Region 7–5,273; Region 8–1,120; Region 9–1,521; Region 10–2,788; Region 11–3,579; Region 12–1,921; and Caraga–999 establishments.

Baldoz noted that 99 percent of all businesses in the country are micro, small, and medium enterprises.