Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan Svetlana Zhakupova informed about the main approaches of the Concept of Safe Work until 2030
The Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan Svetlana Zhakupova at a meeting of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan spoke about the main approaches of the Concept of safe work in the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2030, developed in pursuance of the order of the Head of State given in the Address to the people of Kazakhstan dated September 1, 2023 “Economic course of a Fair Kazakhstan” . She noted that the purpose of this Concept is to improve the quality of working life of workers and save labor resources.
Svetlana Zhakupova reported that the Concept provides for 4 main directions for the development of the national occupational safety and health management system (hereinafter referred to as the OSH), including: modernization of the OSH based on a risk-based approach; economic incentives for measures to reduce occupational risks in the workplace; development of professional competencies and scientific potential; increasing the efficiency of control and monitoring in the field of labor protection.
According to the minister, industrial injuries and occupational diseases are the result of working in hazardous working conditions, including those that do not meet sanitary and hygienic standards, as well as hard work and unsafe equipment. Taking into account problematic issues, a set of the following measures will be implemented as part of the modernization of the OSMS.
The first is normative and methodological support for the new classification and assessment of working conditions. This will allow us to identify the complex impact of harmful factors in the working environment.
The second is to present specialized organizations conducting occupational risk assessments with requirements for: laboratory and equipment accreditation; certification of experts in assessing professional risks; mandatory integration with the information system of the Ministry and provision of assessment results through a mobile application.
Third, establishing the responsibility of specialized organizations through automated monitoring in the Ministry’s information system, with exclusion from the register if the results of a poor-quality assessment are identified.
“The use of a matrix method for the distribution and ranking of personal protective equipment (hereinafter referred to as PPE) based on a specific hazard will simplify the choice of PPE for the employer. This will provide workers with the means to protect themselves from the risks inherent in a particular workplace.
The introduction of a risk-based approach will be accompanied by full-scale digitalization through the integration of information systems for monitoring working conditions. A Digital Map of Enterprises has already been created, which, from July 1, 2024, will allow real-time monitoring of working conditions,” said the head of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection.
Svetlana Zhakupova added that an analysis of the costs of ensuring safe work showed that they are largely associated with the provision of social guarantees (benefits and compensation) to workers employed in hazardous working conditions. In 2022, employers allocated more than 227 billion tenge for these purposes. Over the past 3 years, these costs have increased by 47%.
Current employee guarantees do not take into account actual working conditions and do not encourage employers to improve them. In addition, there is a low interest of employers in insuring workers against accidents. Today, only 54% of workers are insured.
“As part of measures to transform the mechanism for providing guarantees, a new procedure for determining the types and volumes will be established, including a proactive format for assigning them based on an assessment of profit margins. Methodological approaches to economic planning of labor protection costs, as well as to assessing its effectiveness, will be developed. The preventive focus of the compulsory accident insurance system will be expanded, which will ensure the achievement of key insurance goals: reasonableness of the tariff, compliance with the sum insured, completeness of data to establish risk.
The implementation of these measures will ensure full coverage of workers, taking into account the targeted and systematic guarantees provided to them, and will allow employers to increase the efficiency of investing in improving working conditions,” she emphasized.
The minister noted that one of the reasons for the high industrial injury rate is shortcomings in safe work training; in 2022, this was the cause of 20% of accidents, a shortage of qualified personnel, and a lack of responsibility of training centers for the quality of training.
“To resolve these issues, it is planned to differentiate the procedures for training conducted by training centers and testing knowledge on labor protection with the creation of an online platform. Requirements for training centers will be strengthened, a Unified Training and Methodological Center will be created, one of the functions of which will be the development of standard training programs and test questions for testing knowledge. Mandatory advanced training will be provided for state and technical labor protection inspectors, managers and members of production councils.