SALIENT POINTS ON OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY EMPLOYEES ● OTHER PERSONS - builders, contractors, etc.
builders, contractors, etc. shall comply with and all
COMPENSATION
Mandatory Provisions:
1. Establishment of a Safety Committee - All establishments are required
to have a Safety Committee
- Planning and policy making group in all matters pertaining to safety
DUTIES:
a. Plan and develop accident prevention programs;
b. Direct the accident prevention efforts of the establishment in
accordance with the safety programs, safety performance and
government regulations in order to prevent accidents from
occuring in the workplace;
c. Conduct safety meetings at least once a month;
d. Review reports of inspection, accident investigation and
implementation of program
e. Submit report of meetings and activities to the manager;
f. Provide necessary assistance to government inspecting
authorities; and,
g. Initiate and supervise safety training for employees. (e.g. fire drill
and earthquake drill
Mandatory Obligations of Stakeholders (Book IV):
NOTE: This is not the sole duty of the employer
● EMPLOYER - keep and maintain his workplace free from work hazards
that are causing or likely to cause physical harm to workers or damage
to property.
● WORKERS - shall cooperate with the employer in carrying out the
provisions of the law. Use safety devices. Follow all instructions. Report
any hazards.
regulations issued by the employer and government regulations. (e.g.
fire escapes, fire alarms, sprinklers)
EMPLOYEES COMPENSATION
Brief History
- Before, in case of injury or sickness sustained by the worker that might
cause disability or death, the only remedy available to workers or his
dependents is to file for damages or indemnity to the courts.
- Before, an injured worker could only recover damages/indemnities by
bringing suit against the employer.
DEFENSES OF THE EMPLOYER:
a. The employer exercises reasonable care in providing a safe
place to work, safe tools and appliances;
b. The injury is an assumed risk common to the employment
(Doctrine of Assumption of Risk)
c. Injury arose because of negligence of the co-employee; and
d. Contributory negligence. (partial defense, mitigate liability of
employer)
● NOTE: employer has all the means and resources to hire a battery of
lawyers to protect his rights and interests.
Workmen’s Compensation - product at the end of the 19th century, evolved
in Europe (Age of Enlightenment - people became aware of human rights
and inequality)
- Act no. 3428 - Workmen’s Compensation Act
- Purpose: to provide security against the hazards of life
- Too liberal or too pro-labor
- PRINCIPLE OF PRESUMPTION OF COMPENSABILITY - claimant is relieved
of the duty to prove causation for it was legally presumed that the
illness arose out of employment. Whatever sickness or injury causing
 disability or death, claimant or employee or dependents can claim
under this act because of this presumption.
- Theory of Aggravation - sickness, injury, or disability was aggravated by
the employment.
EMPLOYEES COMPENSATION PROGRAM UNDER THE LC
- To balance the rights of workers and employers
- Took effect on January 1, 1975
- Principle of Presumption of Compensability has been stricken off in the
LC. For sickness, disability or death to be compensable, the sickness
must be the result of an occupational disease in the list of
“Occupational Diseases”
- There is a particular list of diseases which can only be considered to be
compensable.
● Injuries must be work related, if not, cannot claim under
Employees Compensation
- Social legislation = Liberal Interpretation (Art. 4 of LC)
Basic Features of the ECP
a. Integration of Benefits; (integrated with those of SSS and GSIS, even
PhilHealth)
b. Increase in benefits; (allowable income benefits, death and
permanent total disability benefits now consist of lifetime pensions, and
burial expenses have been increased, Medical benefits, Disability
Benefits, Death Benefits, and Funeral Benefits)
c. Prompt payment of Income benefits; (no need to go to court to
establish his claim because employer will file in his behalf in SSS or GSIS)
d. Legal services is dispensed with;
e. Wider coverage; and
f. A more balanced rehabilitation program.
Employees Compensation - benefits compensate WORK RELATED DISABILITY
OR DEATH
SSS/GSIS- compensates disability or death, regardless whether work related,
they also insure or protect against hazards or use of sickness and old age (not
compensated by Employees Compensation)
CONDITIONS FOR ENTITLEMENT TO EMPLOYEES COMPENSATION BENEFITS
a. The employee has been duly reported to the SSS or GSIS;
b. The employee sustains disability or dies as a result of a compensable
injury (work-related) or sickness (listed in List of Occupational Diseases);
and,
c. The SSS and GSIS has been duly notified of the injury or sickness which
caused the disability or death.
- State insurance fund like SSS and GSIS
CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS BENEFIT:
a. Non-transferrable (Art. 204, LC);
b. Non-taxable (Art. 210, LC); and
c. Non-garnishable (Art. 204, LC) - not made to answer for deaths,
mortgages etc. however, there is an exception.
GR: non-garnishable
XPN: for debts owing to the SSS and GSIS
LIMITATIONS ON THE LIABILITY OF THE EMPLOYEES COMPENSATION
COMMISSION as well as the DIFFERENT SYSTEM (State Insurance Fund)
1. Principle of Exclusion - no compensation shall be allowed to the
employee or his dependents when the injury, sickness, disability or
death was occasioned by any of the following acts of the employee:
a. Intoxication; (proximate cause of death or injury to the extent
that you are not entirely yourself, or judgment is impaired, and
act and conduct is visibly impaired)
 b. Willful intention to injure or kill himself or another; or,
c. Notorious negligence - deliberate disregard for own personal
safety (Presumption that no man in his senses would deliberately
court death)
CRUCIAL TEST OF COMPENSATION
● Existence of Em-Em relationship (jurisdictional foundation)
● Where the relationship has already been severed, the provisions of the
law will not apply.
● RULES ON PROOF:
a. If it is listed as an occupational disease - no need for proof;
b. Proof is necessary when the cause of the disease is unknown;
c. Substantial evidence of reasonable work-connection not
necessarily direct causal relation (probability not causality)
d. If the disease is unknown, there is no duty to present proof, for
the law does not demand impossibility.
TWO APPROACHES:
a. If a claimant cannot prove the necessary work connection because
the cause of the disease is still unknown, it must be presumed that
working conditions increased the risk of the contracting ailment
(Increase Risk Theory)
b. If there is no proof of the required work connection, the disease is not
compensable because the law says so. If illness or injury is not work
connected, you cannot claim for any benefits.
c. It is not required that employment should be the sole factor in growth,
development or acceleration of his illness. It is enough that his
employment had contributed even in a small degree to the
development of the disease.
INJURY
- Any harmful change in the human organism for any accident
sustained at work, the workplace or elsewhere while executing an
order for the employer.
- CONDITIONS OF COMPENSABILITY OF INJURY/IES
a. The employee must have been injured at the place where his
work requires him to be;
b. The employee must have been performing his official function;
and,
c. If the injury was sustained elsewhere, the employee must have
been executing an order for the employer.
COMPENSABLE INJURIES
a. Peculiar Risk; ex. Metroaid was crushed to death by an automobile, or
death of a bus driver who was shot while driving
b. Street Perils; ex. street sweeper exposed to the perils of the street
c. Personal Comfort Doctrine; injury of an employee who heeded to the
call of nature and sustained injuries. Ex. Peeing then got bit by a snake,
or electrocuted, etc.
d. Acts of God; ex. a ship captain dies because his vessel sank in a
marine disaster; or a farm worker while putting pesticides was struck by
lightning
e. Assaults; assault not attributable to employment like one that sprung
from jealousy is not compensable (fight over work assignment)
f. Recreational Activities; ex. Injury during a company sponsored
recreational activity
g. Acts for the Benefit of the Employer; ex. Protecting the property of the
employer, and was killed during a robbery
h. Acts during an emergency, ex. Rescuing a co-worker sustaining an
injury or death
COMING AND GOING RULE NB: The System is subrogated to the rights of the injured employee or his
GR: an employee injured in going to, or coming from his place of work is dependents in accordance with the general law.
excluded from the benefits of the ECP. Suffered as a consequence of risk
and hazards to which all members of the traveling public are subject to. (Not NB: Where the System recovers from such third party damages in EXCESS of
compensable) those paid or allowed under the LC, such excess shall be delivered to the
XPNS: Proximity rule injured employee or to the dependents, after deduction of the expenses of
a. Where the employee is proceeding to or from work on the premises of the System and the cost of the proceedings.
his employer; - still within the premises
b. Where the employee is about to enter or leave the premises of his PROHIBITION
employer by using the customary means of ingress and egress; (door or ● Double compensation
gate, not the window) ● Injured employees cannot claim payment twice for the same injuries.
c. Where the employee is charged by some duty or special errand
connected with his employment; or
d. Where the employer, as an incident, provides the means of
transportation to and from the place of employment.
EXTENT OF LIABILITY
● Art. 179, LC
● Principle of Exclusiveness
● Whenever other laws provide similar benefits for the same
contingency, the employee who qualifies for the benefits shall have
the option to choose the law under which the benefits will be paid to
him.
● If the law chosen provides for benefits lesser than those provided by
the LC, he shall be entitled only to the difference thru SSS or GSIS.

LIABILITY OF THIRD PERSONS

● In case the injury or death is caused by circumstances creating a legal
liability against a third party other than the employer, the injured
employee or his dependents may either:
a. Claim compensation from the System; or,
b. Sue for damages in accordance with law.