Compensation for Vietnamese worker who died
Interesting information about the compensation paid out for a Vietnamese worker who died on the job in Qatar, compared to that paid for Vietnamese workers in other countries. Copied from http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2008/12/817493/
Last week, a local manpower exporting company, Airserco, presented nearly $56,000 to the family of a worker who died at work in Qatar. This is the highest compensation for a worker so far.
Many Vietnamese laborers are working construction sites in the Middle East.
The sum includes salary, bonus and insurance that the employer in Qatar paid to the victim’s family.
The victim, Nguyen Van Bay, 22, from the northern province of Phu Tho was sent to Qatar by Airserco in October 2007. While working at a construction site of PCSI Global Group (Qatar), he suffered an occupational accident and died.
Under the assistance of the Vietnamese Embassy in Qater, the Vietnamese partner Airserco brought the victim’s body to Vietnam on November 13 and requested the Qatar employer to pay compensation worth $44,824.
The compensation money was transferred to a bank in Vietnam on December 2 and Airserco handed the money over to Bay’s father.
Airserco Director, Nguyen Xuan Vui, said he has never seen such a large compensation. Vui said two Vietnamese workers died at work in Qatar before, but at that time Vietnam had not yet opened its Embassy in Qatar, so the workers’ interest was not well-protected.
Officials from some other labor exporting companies also said that the above compensation is very high because the employers bought insurance for their workers at high levels. According to Nguyen Gia Liem from the Overseas Labor Management Agency, the compensation is similar to that in Japan, at $40,000-60,000 for fatality at work. The insurance for Vietnamese workers in other countries is much lower, for example, just $6,000 for fatality in Malaysia.
(Source: VNE)
Good to know that you can put a price on a human's life then.
And $56,000 is much cheaper than the cost of implementing quality HSE standards within many industrial sectors.
For western standards it is a very small compensation, but for a Vietnamese Family consider it a blessing. Not saying that death of their son is good, but a tragedy.
The Seven Words You Can Never Say On QL by George Carlin
unfortunately that's still a small compensation package to pay for a loss of life.
i suppose until robust occupational health and safety standards are issued and adhered to then that will have to suffice.