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Accordingly, Vietnam has ranked 76th among the 187 countries and territories in the latest UL Safety Index released on April 18 by Underwriters Laboratories, a global independent safety science firm. The UL Safety Index 2017 has included some new criteria, including road safety.
The UL Safety Index shows the relative safety of a country based on three factors: Institutional factors (eg, economics and education), safety standards (regulations and safe infrastructure) and safety outcomes (unintentional injury and death).
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| Vietnam has evidently made comprehensive efforts to improve its safety level. |
The UL Safety Index rated the Netherlands, Norway as the safest countries, and Vietnam was in the middle among the 11 Southeast Asian countries.
Vietnam's injury rate has declined significantly in recent years. In 2017, drowning mortality was reduced by 15%, poisoning deaths were down by 14% and traffic fatalities dropped 8%.
Mr. David Wroth, Director of Data Science at UL, said that, from the studies and the promotion of Vietnam, Vietnam has evidently made comprehensive efforts to improve its safety level.
First of all, the strong economic growth of Vietnam in recent years has helped improve public health and safety. The country’s GDP per capita has increased, and most of the country’s GDP has been reinvested in infrastructure and other programs. As personal incomes significantly increased, Vietnamese citizens could enjoy high-quality and safe products.
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| Vietnam has also improved the use of technology to better manage community safety, identify hazards, and promote educational programs to reduce mortality rates. |
In addition, Vietnam's educational standards have improved significantly since 2000.
Vietnam has also improved the use of technology to better manage community safety, identify hazards, and promote educational programs to reduce mortality rates.
Regarding traffic safety, the UL Safety Index shows that road traffic injuries account for a large proportion of traffic accidents in Vietnam and around the world. In Vietnam, most fatal road accidents involve motorbikes.
Although the enforcement of the national motorcycle helmet law is relatively good, but there are indications that local competent agencies should make further efforts to improve comprehensive safety as well as to strengthen vehicle safety standards or enforcement laws for different driving conditions.
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| Vietnam climbs 11 levels in global safety index. |
"While there has been great progress made in Vietnam’s safety performance, there are also some areas for improvement for the country. Road safety remains a well-publicized source of serious injury and death in Vietnam, and taking strong measures to reduce threats of drink-driving would be a good initial step to improve traffic safety. Another area of needed improvement in Vietnam is water safety.
Vietnam ranks in the lower tier for drowning deaths in Southeast Asia, and there are intervention programs from countries such as Japan and Korea that could be applied to reduce these numbers. In addition, Vietnam has a high incidence of injuries and deaths caused by falls, which may be attributed to the country’s aging population. Better support for older citizens will help to reduce these figures", said Mr. David Wroth, Director of Data Science at UL.
