"The pain of work accidents is beyond my comprehension, my father still blames me for being subjective"

At the online contest awards ceremony "CNVCLD learn about occupational safety and health work", the story of Ms. Hoan's father - a worker who died in a work accident moved the whole hall.

In the 90s of the last century, Ms. Hoan's father was a dismantling worker at Hai Phong Port. Loading goods is a job that is carried out continuously every day to ensure the progress of ships arriving and departing. The characteristic of the unloading workers is working in shifts, continuously 24/24 hours, not including days, nights, holidays, and Tet. Working conditions are special, always ensuring the number of troops to best complete the task. Therefore, this work is classified as a heavy, toxic, dangerous and especially heavy, toxic, dangerous occupation.

"Before having a work accident, my father was always a leader in the emulation movement in production, and every year he was awarded the title of Emulation Fighter. The special thing is that he is always volunteering to take on work that other colleagues are afraid to do.

Therefore, my father is wholeheartedly loved by his leaders and colleagues. With the excitement of a child, I often ask my father to let me visit my workplace - the port to see the large international ships docking, the tall European boat drivers, white skin, and blue eyes. Every time I go to the port, I get many gifts of foreign cakes and toys from the teachers and uncles.

But an accident happened and my father could no longer do the job he loved, Ms. Hoan said in tears.

That was one winter night in 1994, her family was shocked to hear that her father had fallen from a barge to the wharf, unconscious and was taken to the Doan Xa Port for emergency care by his colleagues. The parents hurriedly cycled nearly 10 kilometers during the cold night to visit their father. On the way, Ms. Hoan and her mother kept crying, while her brother was silent, his face full of anxiety.

When she arrived, she saw her father's hands and feet scratched, blood splashed, one of her toes was crushed and had a cutting blemish, the right shoulder was covered with a fixed fold and the teachers and uncles gave her congee.

"Seeing my father, I cried like rain because I loved him. Seeing me crying all the time, the nurse came in to inject medicine for my father and gently said: Please, hold on, don't cry anymore. The father of the child had just had a toe amputated and underwent shoulder surgery, which was very painful because today the hospital lacked anesthetics, and the father of the child did not cry. Why cry when you don't get hurt so you can worry about it.

I stopped crying, looked at my father's skin, at this time I recognized the scratches on his hands, shoulders and calves that were still bleeding, the toes next to his fingers were cut and were purple and edgy.

My father had to lie still but did not scream or cry. I demand congee xuc for my father to eat. Her hands trembled, putting the congee in her father's mouth, I just saw her tears flowing, her lips also trembling. My father signaled me to go to the left bed so that my father could use his healthy arm to hug me.

Every time I was moved, my father hugged me tightly. That is a memory for the rest of my life and also made me determined to become a union official contributing to doing a good job of occupational safety and health" - Ms. Hoan shared.

After 3 months of treatment, her father was introduced by the Company for a disability assessment. As a result, my father suffered a 47% disability loss. After that accident, her father was no longer healthy enough to work at high altitudes, raising and lowering goods and doing heavy work.

The company director sympathized with her father's passionate love for the job, so he arranged and assigned him to work at the Port warehouse, specializing in recording import and export vouchers.

But with his good nature and a love of mobilization, when he had to switch to "paperwork", he was sad for a whole year. Later, he became familiar with and adapted to the new job. Although his health has declined after work accidents, he is always enthusiastically supporting his colleagues with a passion: sometimes helping the security department, sometimes helping the materials department or the unit supplying uniforms.

In the following years, her father always instructed her children to always remember and practice safety rules regardless of their work. If operating the machine and the transmission parts, the machine must be checked and ensured for safety before use. Wherever you go, you have to observe the escape route to prevent fire situations. Not only does he teach his children, he also teaches his paternal and maternal grandchildren about occupational safety and health skills.

"My father said, even though he doesn't know anything, he doesn't need to ask for any more instructions. If the heavy rain continues for a long time, the children will remember it and be the luggage for their lives. It happened nearly 30 years ago but I still remember it. I hope that if my father is still alive, he will become a good safety and hygiene worker, to propagate to workers the meaning of occupational safety and health, fire prevention and fighting at work.

Only then can workers be healthy and proficient to do the work they love" - Ms. Hoan said.

The advice of her beloved father has motivated Ms. Hoan to strive to contribute to the participation of the Textile and Garment Trade Union at all levels in ensuring safety and improving working conditions for workers in the industry.

This includes her and the collective of the Department of Legal Policy and Labor Relations consulting with the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Trade Union to negotiate and sign the 6th Vietnam Textile and Garment Industry Collective Labor Agreement, with provisions on benefits related to working conditions higher than the provisions of law.