Contact Us. Call our hotline . Call 096 165 1936  Duties of employees: Employees have a duty to cooperate with the employer in matters relating to the promotion of safety, occupational health and workplace environment, in order to ensure the safety of employees and the workplace. Duties of employers: Employers have a duty to arrange and ensure that the workplace and the employees have safe and hygienic work conditions and workplace environment; and provide support to the performance of employees to prevent them from suffering injury to life, body, mind, health and health. Where the Act requires an employer to engage in a certain act where expense is incurred, the employer shall be liable for such expense. An employer shall administer, manage and engage in safety, occupational health and workplace environment related actions in accordance with standards specified in ministerial regulations. For the determination of such standards, any document or report prepared by the employer shall be verified or certified by individuals or juristic persons, as specified in ministerial regulations. Employees have a duty to comply with safety, occupational health and workplace environment criteria in accordance with the standards specified in the paragraph above. Registration procedure for experts providing services: Any person wishing to provide measurement, inspection, testing, certification and risk evaluation services, as well as to conduct training or provide consultation on safety, occupational health and workplace environment in accordance with the standards specified in regulations issued, shall register with the Office of Labour Safety, Labour Welfare and Protection Department. The qualifications of registrants, registration, revocation of registration, determination of service fees and service procedures shall be in accordance with ministerial regulations. A juristic person wishing to provide measurement, inspection, testing, certification and risk evaluation services, as well as to conduct training or provide consultation on safety, occupational health and workplace environment in accordance with the standards specified in regulations, shall be issued a permit by the Director General. The qualifications of applicants, applications, permission, renewal of permit, suspension and revocation of permit, determination of fees and provision of services shall be in accordance with ministerial regulations. Employers to appoint a work safety officer: An employer shall arrange for a work safety officer, personnel, work department or a party of individuals to engage in the safety of the workplace in accordance with ministerial regulations. Work safety officers and personnel shall register with the Labour Welfare and Protection Department. General duties of employers with regard to health and safety: The Act imposes general duties regarding health and safety upon employers:
Duties of employers or supervisors: Executives or supervisors shall support and collaborate with employers and other personnel in relation to general duties imposed and duties regarding training, multiple workplaces and personal protective equipment. Duties of work safety officers, supervisors and executives: Employees with a duty of supervising workplace environment in accordance with standards specified under regulations shall consider the nature of the work and the area of their responsibility. Where an employee learns of a defect or damage and is unable to remedy this on their own, they shall notify the work safety officer, supervisor or an executive and the work safety officer, and the supervisor or the executive shall notify the employer in writing without delay. Where a supervisor learns of a defect or damage which may result in injury to life, body, mind or health and health, he or she shall immediately engage in preventive measures within the scope of their responsibility or assignment. Where this is not possible, the supervisor shall notify an executive or the employer to remedy this without delay.
| Relevant definitions: “Safety, occupational health and workplace environment" means acts or working conditions that do not cause injury to life, body, mind or hygiene and health as a result of or in connection with work. "Employer" means an employer as defined in the LPA, including a business person who allows an individual to work or generate benefits for or inside a workplace, regardless of whether that work or earning of benefits is part of, or the whole of, a production process or a business under the responsibility of that business person. "Employee" mean an employee as defined in the LPA, including an individual permitted to work or generate benefits for or inside the workplace of an employer, regardless of how he or she is described. "Executive" means an employee in a managerial position of that work department or higher. "Supervisor" means an employee who controls, supervises, gives order or instructs employees to perform their duties in the work department. "Work safety officer" means an employee appointed by the employer to carry out safety, occupational health and workplace environment duties under this Act. "Workplace" means each work department of the employer where employees work. Duties of primary contractors and sub contractors (as defined in the Labour Protection Act): Primary contractors and subcontractors shall engage in safety, occupational health and workplace environment related actions where employees are concerned, in the same manner as an employer. Where the employer is a subcontractor and there are subcontractors of higher levels, all superior subcontractors throughout the chain to the primary subcontractor whose employees work at the same workplace, shall have a duty to jointly arranging the workplace to ensure safe working conditions and a healthy workplace environment for the safety of all employees. Regulatory Committee: a regulatory committee called the Safety, Occupational Health and Workplace Environment Committee shall be set up to advise the Minister concerning policies and drafting of regulations regarding health and safety and workplaces. Further duties of employers: An employer shall: (1) Conduct safety evaluations. (2) Study the impact that the workplace environment has on employees. (3) Develop safety, occupational health and workplace environment action plans and develop employee and workplace control and oversight plans. (4) Submit findings from safety evaluations, impact studies, operational plans and control plans under (1), (2) and (3) to the Director General. The criteria, procedures and conditions for action under paragraph one, the type of business and size of business where this is required, and the timeframe, shall be in accordance with regulations. Employers shall comply with the recommendations of findings made by safety, occupational health and workplace environment experts. Duties in the case of a serious accident: Where a serious accident occurs at a workplace or an employee is injured by work, the employer shall act as follows: (1) Where the employee dies, the employer shall notify the safety inspector immediately upon learning of the incident by phone, fax or any other method where reasonable details can be provided. The details and cause of the incident shall be indicated in writing within seven days from the date of death. (2) where the workplace is damaged or has to cease production or where an individual in the workplace is injured or damaged as a result of fire, explosion, chemical leakage or other serious accident, the employer shall notify the safety inspector immediately upon learning of the incident by phone, fax or any other method where reasonable details can be provided. The cause of the accident, the damage, remedy and preventive measures shall be indicated in writing within seven days from the date of the incident. (3) Where an employee is injured or made ill, once the employer has notified the Social Security Office of the injury or the illness, the employee shall also submit a copy of that notification to the safety inspector within seven days. Any written notification as above shall be in the form specified. Once the safety inspector has received the notification, he or she shall conduct an inspection and identify preventive measures without delay. Powers of safety inspectors: A safety inspector shall have authority as follows: (1) to enter a workplace or an office of the employer during working hours or when an accident has occurred. (2) to inspect or record images or noises in the workplace that concern safety, occupational health and the workplace. (3) to use tools to measure or inspect machinery or equipment within a workplace. (4) to collect samples of any material or product for safety analysis. (5) to inquire or investigate any matter within his authority and summon relevant individuals to give statements, and to inspect or submit documentary evidence and proposed preventive measures to the Director General without delay. Powers of Safety Inspectors to make orders: Where a safety inspector has found that the employer, employee or a relevant individual has violated or failed to comply with the Act or regulations, or where the workplace environment, building, location, machinery or equipment used by the employees may cause injury, he/she may order an individual to cease violating the Act and to make amends or comply with requirements within 30 days extendable if necessary to 60 days. Where necessary, a safety inspector has authority to order the cease of use of machinery, equipment, a building or location, or to restrain and mark such items that may cause serious injury to employees temporarily, while the orders of the safety inspector are being carried out. Once the employer has made amends in compliance with the orders of a safety inspector, the order may be revoked. Obligation to continue to pay wages: When the work or production process is stopped, the employer shall pay affected employees regular wages or other benefits to which they are entitled, except where particular employees deliberately engage in an act causing the stoppage of work or the production process. Non compliance by employer: Where the employer does not comply with the order of the safety inspector, where there is a possible cause of a serious accident where the Labour Welfare and Protection Department should intervene, the Director General may order the safety inspector or an individual to rectify matters to comply with such order. In such case, the employer shall be liable for the costs actually incurred. Prior to such action, a written warning shall be delivered to the employer to require compliance with the order of the safety inspector within a specified timeframe. Such warning can be issued with the order of the safety inspector. Seizure of the employer’s assets where the employer fails to pay for costs incurred: The Director General shall have authority to order seizure, impounding and disposal of assets of employers who fail to pay expenses incurred under the previous paragraph as necessary to cover the actual expenses incurred. An order to seize or impound assets shall be permissible only after a written notice is issued to the employer requesting payment for expenses within a time limit of not less than 30 days from the day on which the employers receive that notice and the employer fails to settle the amount within the time specified. Protection of employees and whistleblowers: An employer may not dismiss an employee or change their work if the employee files a lawsuit or serves as a witness or provides evidence or notification of safety, occupational health and workplace environment to a Safety Inspector or the Committee or to the court. Punishment: The Act imposes fines and in some cases, daily fines and imprisonment for breaches of duty under the Act. Where the offender is a juristic person, if the offence is the result of an order or an act of any person, or a result of the failure to order, or act on the duty of a managing director or any individual responsible for the operation of such juristic person, that person is liable to punishment in the same way. Comment: This new Act is linked with the changes to the Labour Protection Act discussed in Part I of this Article. Note that the duties imposed under this Act are without prejudice to an employee’s rights under the general law to sue for damages for a wrongful act (tort). There have been shocking examples in Thailand in the past of failure to apply health and safety and fire procedures in workplaces or places of public entertainment. The 1993 fire at the Kader toy factory in Bangkok resulted in the deaths of 188 people, the extreme loss of life being contributed to the storage of inflammable materials in the factory and the locking of fire exits. The 2009 fire at the Santika discotheque in Bangkok resulted in 66 deaths, though the cause of the fire, attributed by some to the setting off of fireworks inside the discotheques, is not clear. Whilst the imposition of health and safety obligations upon employers is to be welcomed, it is not clear whether this will result in a practical improvement of health and safety standards in the workplace. This will depend on the further regulations that have to be issued to supplement the Act, the enthusiasm and budget of the Ministry to appoint Safety Inspectors to enforce the Act, and the policies and punishments applied by the Courts in dealing with breaches of duty. |