T. Ospankulov informed about measures to ensure labor protection in Kazakhstan
Deputy Chairman of the Labor, Social Protection and Migration Committee of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Chief State Labor Inspector of the Republic of Kazakhstan Tolegen Ospankulov at a briefing at the Central Communications Service under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan spoke about the measures taken by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan to ensure occupational safety and health at enterprises of Kazakhstan.
At the beginning of his speech, he said that, according to the International Labor Organization, about 270 million accidents and about 160 million occupational diseases are registered in the world every year, which claim the lives of more than 2 million people.
“These are huge losses, especially in the age of advanced technologies and efficient production. Accidents and occupational diseases cause an annual loss of 4% of the GDP of the world economy, ”Ospankulov emphasized. He also noted that, according to the authorized body for statistics, out of 1.6 million workers surveyed in 2020 at enterprises of Kazakhstan, 367 thousand or every fourth (22%) were employed in harmful and dangerous working conditions. In the context of regions, a high level of workers employed in harmful and unfavorable working conditions is observed in Karaganda – 74 731 people, Pavlodar – 46 039, East Kazakhstan – 37 020, as well as in Mangistau region – 31 919.
Every second person (46.3%) worked under conditions of an increased level of noise and vibration, and every third person (32.6%) worked under the influence of increased gas pollution and dustiness in the working area. Heavy physical labor was employed by 94 thousand people (5.7% of the number of employees of the surveyed enterprises).
According to the Chief State Labor Inspector of the Republic of Kazakhstan, last year 672 thousand Kazakhstanis received various compensations for work in harmful working conditions in the amount of 141 billion tenge, which is 12% more than in 2019.
“In 2020, state labor inspectors carried out 4,439 inspections, during which 7,260 violations were revealed, of which 5,001 were in the field of labor relations, 2,096 in labor safety and protection, and 163 in employment. labor protection, expressed in the failure to ensure safe working conditions (433 or 20.6%), failure to train workers in safe working practices (255 or 12.1%), failure to provide personal and collective protective equipment, special clothing and special footwear (129 or 6 , 1%), lack of service or responsible person for labor protection (31 or 1.5%). Employers received 2,614 orders and imposed 1,090 fines in the amount of 182.2 million tenge, ”Tolegen Ospankulov informed.
More than 1,300 workers are injured at the enterprises of Kazakhstan every year, of which about 200 die. Only for 4 months of this year. 462 people were injured at the enterprises of the country, 59 of whom died. In terms of sectors of the economy, the largest number of victims in 2020 is noted at the enterprises of the mining and metallurgical complex – 304 people (20.2%) and the construction industry – 175 (11.6%). In the context of regions, a high level of injuries persists in Karaganda (260 people were injured), East Kazakhstan (209 people), Kostanay (140 people), Pavlodar (112 people) regions and Almaty (110 people). “In order to solve existing problems in Kazakhstan, the Roadmap is being implemented to reduce industrial injuries and jobs with harmful working conditions for 2019-2023. It provides for a set of measures to optimize the requirements for employers in the field of labor safety, aimed at reducing occupational risks at workplaces, industrial injuries and workplaces with harmful working conditions, ensuring proper state control, “said the Chief State Labor Inspector of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In the first direction of the Roadmap, in 2020, amendments were made to the legislation, providing requirements for employers, employees and the authorized labor body for the implementation and operation of the OSH management system. Also, the timeframes for the creation of production councils for safety and labor protection at enterprises, whose responsibilities include ensuring internal control over compliance with safety and labor protection requirements at enterprises, are legislatively fixed. There is a provision according to which the general coordination of the observance of labor protection requirements at the construction site is carried out by the organizer of the work (general contractor). In the second area, in 2020, amendments and additions were made to 8 regulatory legal acts (hereinafter – NLA) regulating industrial safety at hazardous production facilities, as well as to 6 NLA on safety and labor protection. In addition, 4 new laws and regulations have been developed and approved that regulate the issues of professional risk management. The hygienic criteria for assessing and classifying working conditions according to the indicators of harmfulness and danger of factors of the working environment, the severity and intensity of the labor process have been updated.