At a glance: employers' health and safety responsibilities in Thailand

Employer duties and responsibilities

What is the nature and extent of the employer’s primary duty to protect workers’ health and safety under the relevant legislation? How is this duty observed and interpreted in practice?

Under the Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Act of 2011 (OSHA), the employer shall have the duty to provide and maintain the establishment and the employees to enjoy safe and hygienic working conditions and environment as well as to support and promote the safety measures to prevent any harm against employees’ lives, bodies, mentality and health.

In addition to the primary duty under OSHA, various Ministerial Regulations also stipulate standards for administration, management and implementation of occupational safety, health and environment in workplaces in specific works or industries such as works involving machines, cranes and boilers; and works that are exposed to electricity, heat and dangerous chemicals, etc. The safety measures under these Ministerial Regulations contain a wide range of measures and actions that must be taken by employers, for example, installing warning signs, providing training courses for employees, preparing and maintaining personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees who work in risky areas, etc. Such Ministerial Regulations also impose duties for employers to prepare and submit reports regarding their compliances to relevant authorities.

To observe and realise the implementation of safety measures under the laws by employers, OSHA stipulates that executives or chief workers of the establishments shall have the duty to support and collaborate with employers to comply with the OSHA regulations. Executives or chief workers are also obliged to inspect or give suggestions to employers to improve working conditions in business establishments to avoid the violation of the laws. In practice, safety or legal divisions inside many business establishments will create compliance checklists as their internal manuals to conveniently and routinely check their compliance with the laws.

Does the employer owe a duty to protect the health and safety of third parties? If so, what is the nature and extent of this duty?

The duty of employers to maintain occupational safety, health and the environment is not limited to their direct employees, but also extends to any person who works or generates benefits for employers or business establishments even if such person is not directly hired by employers, such as, employees of third-party vendors who are dispatched to work inside the establishments, etc.

Additionally, operators of certain businesses or industries that are designated under the Ministerial Regulation prescribing the Standard for Administration and Management of Occupational Safety, Health and Environment of 2006 issued under OSHA, for example, factories, hotels and financial institutions, etc, are required to implement work safety regulation and manuals that specifically apply to outside contractors to ensure that their contractors observe the health and safety of employees under the same standard.

What is the nature and extent of the employer’s duty to ensure safe work premises?

Under OSHA, the employer is obliged to maintain the occupational safety, health and environment of workplaces and to prevent any danger to employees’ lives, bodies, mentality and health. This obligation applies to all workplaces and establishments where the employees work, regardless of whether or not such establishments are controlled or owned by the employers.

If multiple employers share the same establishment, all employers shall be required to cooperate and jointly maintain occupational safety, health and the environment in the establishment.

Apart from OSHA, facilities that must be installed inside the workplaces are also stipulated in other laws, for example:

• a business establishment must have first-aid rooms and number of toilets according to the number of employees under the Labour Protection Act of 1998;
• a smoking room must be installed to divide smoking and non-smoking areas under the Tobacco Products Control Act of 2017; and
• an office building that is deemed a large building under the law shall provide facilities to support accessibility for handicapped or elderly persons under the Building Control Act of 1979.

What are the employer’s duties and responsibilities regarding the provision of safe plant and equipment?

The employer’s duties and responsibilities regarding the provision of safe plant and equipment are stipulated under the Ministerial Regulations issued under OSHA. Such Ministerial Regulations provide minimum standards for the arrangement of fixtures inside worksites to prevent accidents depending on the characteristics of particular worksites; for example, worksites that have machines in operation shall not have an entrance or exit less than 80 centimetres wide, or a curved mirror shall be installed at a corner or junction in worksites that have forklifts, etc.

In terms of safety equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE) that is provided for employees by employers must comply with the standard announced by the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare under the Ministry of Labour (DLPW). Safety officers inside business establishments also have the legal duty to perform daily inspections of machines and tools in worksites to be in safe condition before starting their operation.

What are the employer’s duties and responsibilities regarding the provision of safe work systems and adequate training and supervision?

Thai laws do not exactly mention or define the term ‘safe work system’, but by analogy, the concept of a safe work system is similar to safety regulations or manuals that appear under the OSHA regime. Under the Ministerial Regulation prescribing the Standard for Administration and Management of Occupational Safety, Health and Environment of 2006 issued under OSHA, employers in specific establishments, such as factories, hotels or financial institutions, are required to have safety regulations for their establishments. Such regulation shall at least state procedures and instructions to ensure safety and to prevent any action that is likely to cause danger during works. Safety officers must also be stationed to be responsible for the planning and administration of safety regulations in the line of duty.

In terms of training and supervision, OSHA imposes the duty to any employer, regardless of its business or industry, to have its executives, chief workers and every employee undergo training on occupation safety, health and environment to realise the safety measure inside its establishment. Such training must be given to any newly hired employees, employees who are transferred from another position or another establishment, or when new machinery or equipment is introduced into the work line. The training must contain curriculums that comply with the standards under the laws.

In addition to general training, the law also requires the employer to provide special training courses for works that are prone to severe health risks, such as training courses for works in confined space, safety training for works that are related to electricity, etc. Upon the provision of these special courses, the employer shall record the names of employees who have passed the courses, as well as the names of the instructors, to present to the inspection authorities or to submit to the relevant authorities as required under the law.

What rules and requirements govern employers’ response to and reporting of workplace accidents?

Under Thai law, employers’ duty to report workplace accidents is stipulated in various laws depending on the objectives of the report, the nature of the accident and the place of accident, which are the responsibility of specific regulators. The main authorities who are responsible for receiving accident reports include:

• the DLPW: under OSHA, employers must report the details of the incident to the safety inspection authority in writing immediately or within a designated period when there is a serious accident or an employee faces any danger from work in business establishments;
• the Social Security Office: under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, employers shall notify the occurrence of accident, sickness or disappearance of the employees to the local Social Security Office within 15 days of the date when the employer is aware of such incident or should have known of such incident;
• the Department of Industrial Works (DIW): under the provisions of the Factory Act of 1992 (the Factory Act), if the establishment of the employer is a factory and there is an accident in the factory, the employer shall report in writing the occurrence of:
  • any accident that caused casualty, sickness or injury to an employee in which such employee cannot resume his or her work within 72 hours after the accident; or
  • any accident that forced the factory to suspend its operation for more than seven days to DIW within the period designated by the Factory Act.

In addition to the laws above, employers are also required to report defects or malfunction in machinery or substances that will likely cause harm to employees even before the occurrence of an actual accident under special laws, for example, a defect or abnormality that is found within a nuclear reactor shall be reported to the Office of Atoms for Peace without delay and such reactor must be immediately shut down under the Nuclear Energy for Peace Act of 2016.

What rules, requirements, procedures and best practices should employers be aware of when conducting occupational risk and hazard assessments?

Risk assessment is an important measure to manage and maintain occupational safety and the environment in the workplace. In this regard, OSHA imposes a duty upon employers to perform a risk assessment. However, types of business that require risk assessment and the period of assessment are not clearly defined by the law.

Due to the above reason, in practice, business establishments that are factories opt to perform risk and hazard assessment under the rules, requirements and procedures of the Factory Act, namely, the Regulation of Department of Industrial Works on Criteria for Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment, and Establishment of Risk Management Plan dated 17 April 2000. Establishments that are not factories may choose to adopt the Occupational Safety and Health Risk Assessment Standard published by the Thailand Institute of Occupational Safety and Health as a guideline.

Are employers required to submit regular health and safety reports to the relevant authorities? If so, what is the nature and extent of this requirement?

Employers have the legal duty to conduct inspections and periodically submit health and safety reports to the relevant authorities, depending on the industry in question, the characteristics of the works and other conditions stipulated by law. The main authority responsible for receiving the report is the DLPW, the OSHA regulator. Examples of reports to be submitted to the DLPW include reports regarding:

• the operation of safety officers;
• health risks to employees in the case where dangerous chemicals are used; and
• measurement and analysis of working conditions for light, heat and noise volume in business establishments, etc.

In addition to the duty to submit reports to the DLPW, health and safety reports are also required to be submitted for particular types of establishment regulated under specific laws, for example, establishments that are factories shall be required to submit annual boiler safety inspection reports to the DIW under the Factory Act; establishments with liquid petroleum gas (LPG) storage must file LPG storage tank safety inspection reports to the Department of Energy Business under the Fuel Oil Control Act of 1999, etc. Due to the variety of regulators, employers should examine the laws that regulate their business to ensure that they have complied with report duties imposed by the responsible authorities.

What requirements apply regarding the provision of health and safety information to workers?

The provision of health and safety information to workers is one of the important measures to maintain safety in business establishments. Employers have a duty to inform employees of any danger that may occur during work, and to distribute safety manuals to every employee upon hiring employees or the change of their positions or places of work.

In addition to general safety manuals, employers shall also provide additional safety information to employees whose work conditions are prone to specific risk stipulated by the laws (eg, safety manuals for works related to electricity, manuals for usage, inspection and maintenance for forklifts, training course of usage and maintenance of PPE, etc).

Regarding hazardous chemicals, employers have a duty to affix safety labels and prepare safety data sheets as well as to install warning signs in worksites related to dangerous chemicals under the Ministerial Regulation prescribing the Standard for Administration, Management and Operation of Occupational Safety, Health and Environment relating to Dangerous Chemicals of 2013 issued under OSHA (the Ministerial Regulation on Dangerous Chemicals) and the Hazardous Substances Act of 1992 (the Hazardous Substances Act).

Apart from legal requirements, regulators charged with hazardous substances such as the DIW, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Livestock Development are now perusing to adapt to the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals to standardise the classification and level of hazard of chemicals under their jurisdiction.

What insurance must employers carry to cover liability for occupational health and safety risks?

Under Thai law, employers have no legal obligation to take on any insurance liability for occupational health and safety risks. Instead, the compensation scheme under the Workmen’s Compensation Act provides a similar function to insurance for employees. Under the said Act, any employer who hires one or more employees shall be obliged to pay its contribution to the workmen’s compensation fund. The workmen’s compensation fund is a state-organised fund established under the Workmen’s Compensation Act and will compensate employees for injury, sickness or death in the course of employment.

Although there is no legal obligation for employers to take on any insurance liability for occupational health and safety risks, in practice many companies choose to voluntarily take on a risk insurance policy or group insurance for employees as a form of welfare. Further, prominent insurance companies in Thailand also offer various policies to suit the need and size of businesses.

Are employers subject to any other notable health and safety duties and responsibilities in your jurisdiction?

Apart from OSHA, which is the main regulation that imposes the duty for employers to maintain occupational safety, health and environment in workplaces, many regulations in Thailand impose additional duties upon employers depending on the characteristics of the businesses and related machines or substances. For example, employers whose establishments are factories shall be obliged to comply with safety regulations under the Factory Act; establishments that possess radiation-generating devices must comply with the regulations in the Nuclear Energy for Peace Act of 2016; employers who are importers manufacturers, transporters or possessors of hazardous substances shall comply with the Hazard Substances Act. Local governments in each municipality may also be authorised to issue safety or cleanliness ordinances within each area under the laws related to cleanliness or town planning.