“How are investors failing to report any construction incidents to competent authorities penalized?” - This is a question that LawNet received from Mr. Ho Tan Phat in Ho Chi Minh City on May 10, 2020.
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LAWNET would like to answer Mr. Phat’s question as follows:
According to Clause 34 Article 3 of the Construction Law 2014 of Vietnam: “Construction work incident mean a breakdown beyond the allowable safety limit which puts the construction work or its construction supporting structures in danger of collapse or has caused the collapse of part or whole of the work in the course of construction or exploitation and use.”
Concurrently, according to Article 47 of Decree No. 46/2015/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, reports on incidents in construction works are as follows:
1. When the incident occurs, the investor shall immediately report such incident to the local People's committee of commune and the superior agency. When the report on the incident is received the People's committee of commune shall report it to the People’s Committee of district and province.
2. Within 24 hours since the incident occurs, the investor make a written report on the incident and send them to the People’s Committee of district and People's Committee of province of the place where the incident occurs. For any type of incidents, if there is human damage, the investor shall report to the Ministry of Construction and other competent State management agencies as prescribed in relevant law provisions.
According to Article 21 of Decree No. 139/2017/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, penalties for violations against regulations on construction incidents are as follows:
1. A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following violations:
a) Failure to report any construction incidents to competent authorities as regulated by law;
b) Failure to protect the scene of construction incident or deliberately demolishing or cleaning up the incident scene without the approval by a competent authority;
c) Failure to prepare the construction incident documentation as regulated.
2. Remedial measures:
a) Enforced submission of written report of the construction incident to the competent authority if the violation prescribed in Point a Clause 1 of this Article is committed;
b) Enforced preparation of construction incident documentation if the violation prescribed in Point c Clause 1 of this Article is committed.
Thus, when a work incident occurs, the investor and the work construction contractor must be responsible for taking timely measures to search and rescue, ensure the safety of people and property, limit and prevent dangers that may continue to occur; organize the protection of the incident scene and make reports according to the provisions of Article 47 of Decree No. 46/2015/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government.
If the investor fails to make the report, the investor will be administratively sanctioned with a fine ranging from 01 to 05 million dong, and at the same time, forced to report in writing to the competent authority.
Le Hai
