Chương IV Nghị định 06/2021/NĐ-CP: Sự cố trong thi công và khai thác, sử dụng công trình

Chapter IV

INCIDENTS ARISING FROM CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION AND USE OF CONSTRUCTION WORKS OR PROJECTS

Section 1. CONSTRUCTION INCIDENTS

Article 43. Severity levels of incidents arising from construction, operation and use of construction works or projects

Construction incidents are divided into three severity levels according to the extent of damage to construction works or human losses, including level-I, level-II and level-III incidents as follows:

1. Level-I incidents, including:

a) Any construction incident causes at least 6 deaths;

b) Any incident causes the construction work to collapse; the collapse of a part of the construction work or any damage that is likely to cause the entire grade-I or higher-grade construction work to be collapsed.

2. Level-II incidents, including:

a) Any construction incident causes 1 - 5 deaths;

b) Any incident causes the construction work to collapse; the collapse of a part of the construction work or any damage that is likely to cause the entire grade-II or grade-III construction work.

3. Level-III incidents, including the rest of construction incidents other than those prescribed in clause 1 and 2 of this Article.

Article 44. Construction incident reporting

1. Immediately after an incident, the investor must, in the fastest manner, report on the incident, including the name and location of the construction work, preliminary information about the incident and damage (if any) to the People's Committee of the commune where the incident or loss (if any) occurs and their superior authority (if any). Immediately after receiving the incident report, the commune-level People's Committee must report to the district-level People's Committee and the provincial-level People's Committee on the incident.

2. Within 24 hours from the occurrence time, the investor must report the incident in writing to the district-level People's Committee and the provincial-level People's Committee of the place where the incident occurs. For all incidents involving human losses, investors shall send reports to the Ministry of Construction and other competent state authorities in accordance with relevant laws. Each report shall contain the following main information:

a) Name of the construction work, construction site and scale of the construction work;

b) Names of organizations or individuals involved in construction;

c) Description of the incident, status of the construction work at the time of occurrence and the occurrence time;

d) Human and property loss (if any).

3. For any incident occurring at the construction work passing through 02 provinces or more, after receiving the written report or receiving information about the incident, the People's Committee of the province where the incident occurs shall send a report on the incident to the specialized construction Ministry.

4. The competent state authority shall be entitled to request the investor and related parties to provide information about the incident.

5. In case the incident occurs in the course of operation or use of the construction work, the owner or the manager or the user of that construction work shall have to implement the provisions of Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article.

Article 45. Responses to construction incidents

1. Whenever an incident occurs, the investor and the construction contractor shall be responsible for taking timely actions to search and rescue, ensure safety for affected people and property, limit and prevent any potential danger; taking charge of protecting the incident scene and making a report according to the provisions of Article 44 of this Decree. People's Committees at all levels shall direct and support related parties to set up search and rescue forces, protect incident scenes and perform other necessary tasks in the incident response process.

2. Provincial People's Committees shall be responsible for handling construction incidents and performing the following tasks:

a) Considering and deciding to close or temporarily suspend construction or operation or use of the construction item, a part or the whole of the construction work, depending on the nature, severity and impact of the incident;

b) Considering and deciding the demolition and cleanup of the incident scene on the basis of meeting the following requirements: Ensure safety for people, property, construction works and other adjacent facilities. Before demolition or cleanup, relevant parties must photograph or film the incident scene; collect evidence existing at the incident scene; record information relating the incident scene in documents necessary for the incident inspection and create the incident file;

c) Notify the results of the inspection results showing incident causes to the investor and other related entities; decisions on remedies or mitigative actions binding upon investors, owners or related parties;

d) Legally charge related parties;

dd) Based on actual local conditions, provincial-level People's Committees may assign district-level People's Committees to take charge of addressing grade-II and grade-III construction incidents occurring within their respective jurisdiction.

3. Investors, construction contractors during the construction process or owners, managers and users of construction works during the operation and use thereof shall be responsible for dealing with incidents at the request of competent state authorities. After dealing with incidents, the competent authorities specified in Clause 2 of this Article shall decide whether construction may proceed or construction works where incidents occur may be put to use.

4. Organizations or individuals causing incidents shall be responsible for paying compensation or costs incurred from handling of these incidents, depending on the nature, extent and impacts of these incidents.

5. The Minister of National Defense and the Minister of Public Security shall adopt regulations on reporting and handling of incidents at national defense and security construction works.

Article 46. Examination of causes of construction incidents

1. Authority to lead the examination of causes of construction incidents:

a) Provincial People's Committees shall be accorded authority to lead the examination of causes of incidents in their respective localities;

b) The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security shall be accorded authority to lead the examination of causes of incidents occurring at national defense and security construction projects;

c) Ministries in charge of specialized construction works shall be accorded authority to lead the examination of causes of incidents occurring at construction works if they are assigned by the Prime Minister to do so.

2. Competent authorities prescribed in clause 1 of this Article can set up incident investigation commissions to examine the causes of incidents. Each commission is composed of representatives of units of authorities in charge of handling incidents, relevant agencies and experts in technical specializations relating to the incidents. Where necessary, the authority in charge of conducting the examination of incident causes shall appoint an inspection organization to conduct the assessment of the quality of the construction work to serve the purpose of the assessment of the incident causes and offer solutions to the incident.

3. Tasks involved in the examination of incident causes:

a) Collecting relevant records, documents, technical data and performing professional work to find the incident causes;

b) Evaluating the safety of the construction work after the incident occurs;

c) Identifying responsibilities of organizations and individuals concerned;

d) Creating documentation on examination of incident causes, including: Report on incident causes and other related documents existing in the process of examination of incident causes.

4. Costs of examination of causes of construction incidents:

a) In case where a construction incident occurs during the construction process, the investor shall be responsible for paying the costs of examination of construction incident causes. After the results of the examination of the construction incident causes are available and responsibilities for the incident are identified, the organization or individual blamed for causing such construction incident must pay the costs of the examination of the incident causes. In case where the construction incident occurs due to force majeure events, liabilities for paying the costs of the examination of the incident causes shall be subject to the provisions of the relevant construction contracts;

a) In case where a construction incident occurs during the period of operation or use of a construction work, the owner, the manager or the user of that construction work shall be responsible for paying the costs of examination of construction incident causes. After the results of the examination of the construction incident causes are available and responsibilities for the incident are identified, the organization or individual blamed for causing such construction incident must pay the costs of the examination of the incident causes. In case where the construction incident occurs due to force majeure events, the owner, the manager or the user of that construction work shall be liable for the costs of examination of the construction incident causes.

Article 47. Construction incident documents

Investors, owners, managers or users shall be responsible for preparing the incident documents, including the followings:

1. Incident scene investigation report includes the following information: Name of the construction work or item where the incident occurs; construction site, time of the incident occurrence, preliminary description and development of the incident; conditions of the construction work at the time of the incident occurrence; preliminary review of human and property losses; preliminary identification of causes of the incident.

2. Design and construction documents related to the incident.

3. Documentation on examination of incident causes.

4. Documents relating to the process for handling the incident.

Section 2. INCIDENTS CAUSING CONSTRUCTION UNSAFETY

Article 48. Incidents causing construction unsafety

1. Incidents causing unsafety for construction works, including:

a) Failures of machinery and equipment necessary for construction works (hereinafter referred to as machinery and equipment incidents);

b) Occupational accidents occurring at construction works.

2. The declaration, investigation, reporting and resolution of incidents causing occupational unsafety for the construction shall be regulated as follows:

a) For the incidents specified at Point a, Clause 1 of this Article, the declaration, investigation, reporting and handling thereof shall be subject to Article 49 and 50 of this Decree;

b) For the incidents specified at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article, the declaration, investigation, reporting and handling thereof shall be subject to laws on occupational safety and hygiene.

Article 49. Declaration, reporting and handling of machinery or equipment incidents

1. When a machinery or equipment incident occurs, the investor or the construction contractor must, in the fastest manner, report on the incident, including the name and location of the construction work, preliminary information about the incident and damage (if any) to the People's Committee of the commune where the incident occurs. Immediately after receiving the report, the commune-level People's Committee must report to the district-level People's Committee, the provincial-level People's Committee, specialized construction agencies and relevant organizations on such incident so that they promptly respond to such incident.

2. In addition to the declaration specified in Clause 1 of this Article, if a machine or equipment incident kills or seriously injures at least 02 persons, the construction contractor must make a report according to regulations of laws on occupational safety and hygiene.

3. The investor and the construction contractor shall be responsible for implementing regulations of laws on occupational safety and hygiene, and taking timely actions to search and rescue, ensure safety for affected people and property, limit and prevent any further danger; taking charge of protecting the incident scene and making declaration according to the provisions of clause 1 and 2 of this Article.

4. People's Committees at all levels shall direct and support related parties to set up search and rescue forces, protect incident scenes and perform other necessary tasks in the incident response process.

5. Authorities prescribed in clause 1 of Article 50 herein shall assume the following responsibilities:

a) Checking the incident scene, checking the declaration and handling of incidents of investors and construction contractors according to the provisions of this Article.

b) Considering and deciding to cease or temporarily suspend operation of machinery, equipment; terminate or temporarily suspend construction items, parts or the whole of the construction works, depending on the severity and impacts of the incidents;

c) Considering and deciding the demolition and cleanup of incident scenes on the basis of ensuring safety for people, property, construction works and other adjacent facilities. Before demolition or cleanup of the incident scene, relevant parties must photograph or film the incident scene; collect evidence existing at the incident scene; record information relating the incident scene in documents necessary for the examination of incident causes and make the machinery or equipment incident documents;

d) Notifying the results of the results of examination of causes of the machinery or equipment incident to the investor and other related entities; decisions on remedies or mitigative actions binding upon investors or related parties;

dd) Legally charge related parties.

6. Investors, construction contractors or owners, managers or users of machinery or equipment shall be responsible for dealing with machinery and equipment incidents to ensure safety requirements before resuming construction activities.

7. Organizations and individuals that cause machinery and equipment incidents shall be responsible for paying compensation and costs incurred from mitigative actions or responses. Depending on the nature, severity and extent of impact, they may be sanctioned according to regulations of relevant laws.

Article 50. Investigation of machinery or equipment incidents

1. Authority over the investigation of machinery or equipment incidents:

a) Provincial People's Committees take charge of the inspection of machinery or equipment incidents occurring within their localities, except the cases specified at Points b and c of this Clause;

b) The Minister of National Defense and the Minister of Public Security shall adopt regulations the investigation of incidents of machinery or equipment used for national defense and security construction works;

c) Ministries in charge of specialized construction works shall be accorded authority to lead the investigation of machinery or equipment incidents occurring at construction works if they are assigned by the Prime Minister to do so.

2. Authorities having competence in investigation of incidents that are referred to in clause 1 of this Article can set up incident investigation commissions to investigate the incidents. Each commission is composed of representatives of specialized construction authorities, relevant agencies and experts in technical specializations relating to incidents. Where necessary, the authority in charge of conducting the investigation of incidents shall appoint a consulting organization to find causes of the incident and recommend corrective actions.

3. Tasks involved in the investigation of machinery or equipment incidents:

a) Collecting relevant records, documents, technical data and performing professional work to find the incident causes;

b) Evaluating the level of safety of machinery, equipment, construction works and adjacent facilities (if any) after the incident occurs;

c) Identifying responsibilities of organizations and individuals concerned;

d) Creating incident investigation documentation, including: Incident investigation report and other related documents existing in the investigation process.

4. Investors shall be responsible for paying incident investigation costs in advance.  After the results of the incident investigation and identification of responsibilities, the organization or individual at fault must pay the incident investigation costs. In case where the incident occurs due to force majeure events, liabilities for paying the incident investigation costs shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the relevant construction contracts.

5. Particularly in case where the incident affects the machinery or equipment not on the list of machinery or equipment subject to strict requirements that are used in construction activities and does not cause serious injury or death, the investor shall undertake the investigation and handling of this machinery or equipment incident.

Article 51. Creation of machinery or equipment incident handling documents

Investors shall be responsible for preparing machinery or equipment incident documents, including the followings:

1. Incident scene investigation report containing the following information: name and location of the construction item or construction work affected by the machinery or equipment incident; technical specifications, record of the affected machine, equipment; current status of the construction item, construction work where the incident occurs, preliminary description and developments of the incident; preliminary review of human and property losses; incident causes;

2. Design and construction documents related to the machinery or equipment incident;

3. Incident investigation documentation; documents on sanctions imposed upon relevant organizations or individuals; remedies or corrective actions;

4. Documents relating to the process for handling the incident.