Vietnam climbs up UL safety index

HCM City, April 24 (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam is becoming a safer nation relative to many others, and once again improved its safety ranking in 2017, according to the latest report released by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a global safety science company. In the latest UL Safety Index, Vietnam moved up 11 places to 76th. The overall injury rates in the country decreased sharply last year, with drowning deaths falling by 15 percent, poisoning by 14 percent and transport deaths by 8 percent, according to the report. “Our mission is to help advance safe living and working environments for people in Vietnam and around the world, and contribute to the discourse on public health and safety,” David Wroth, director, Data Science– UL, said. “The findings from the study this year illustrate that Vietnam is performing better in its overall efforts to improve safety.” The index attributes the improvement to certain indicators like strong economic growth and rise in individual incomes. Besides, education standards have improved significantly since 2000. Lastly, Vietnam also improved its technology utilisation to better manage public safety, identify hazards and communicate about intervention programmes, thus reducing fatalities. UL predicted the country would continue to progress, with opportunities remaining to further enhance safety. Specific actions to improve safety performance include addressing the rate of drowning incidents, falls among older adults, and transport injuries, where Vietnam ranks among the lowest tier of countries in Asia. The index provides a snapshot of a country’s relative safety performance based on three measurable drivers of safety: institutional drivers like economics and education, safety frameworks and safety outcomes./.