The safe hospital assessment tool developed by the World Health Organization was used to assess the safety of hospitals in Quang Ninh, Da Nang and Can Tho provinces in 2009. Objectives: 1) test the relevance of the assessment tool in Vietnamese context
2) evaluate the level of safety of target hospitals. Results: the results suggest that to some extent, most hospitals are vulnerable to disasters. A considerable number of indicators of all the assessed hospitals have not been met, particularly among district hospitals. In general, provincial hospitals have a higher percentage of indicator groups met in all components (structural, non-structural and functional) compared to district hospitals. In all hospitals, major gaps are within the non-structural and functional components. Recommendations: the assessment tool should be further revised and adapted to Vietnamese context for use in different hospital levels. Policy for and institutionalization of strategies to achieve safe hospitals in disasters must be enhanced.