At each working enterprise, we can often hear a concept that we don’t particularly think about: this is the so-called labor protection. In fact, it would be extremely unreasonable to lose sight of such an important element for work. There are a number of regulatory documents on labor protection, as well as the corresponding specialty. The role of the presented phenomena will be described in detail in our article.
Russian legislation on labor protection
The main responsibility of the employer is to ensure safe working conditions. It is necessary to observe the provisions and norms fixed in regulatory and local acts. Regulation of legal relations should take place in strict accordance with the law.
Article 212 of the Russian Labor Code states the need to create occupational health and safety services at enterprises. Such services may be in the form of a wide staff headquarters or as a full-time unit - a separate specialist responsible for workplace safety.
The provisions of the Labor Code disclose other regulatory documents on labor protection. They will be described in detail below.
Labor Code and Federal Laws
Ensuring industrial safety and labor protection is a rather complicated and lengthy process, which includes many norms, measures, standards and rules. Various aspects are approved by regulations. Such acts are established according to a special hierarchy: from the highest subordination to industry. In Russia, federal legislation is represented by the following documents:
- Constitution and Labor Code of the Russian Federation;
- federal law;
- by-laws in the form of orders of the head of state, government decrees, GOSTs, SNIPs, etc .;
- other acts of the federal level containing labor protection rules.
According to article 212 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the following duties are assigned to the employer:
- the creation of a special service, which would include an engineer for labor protection;
- creation of conditions necessary for comfortable and safe work;
- providing workers with special protection equipment;
- production of safe products;
- investigation of accidents, as well as the prevention of further emergencies;
- periodic testing of working conditions, etc.
There are also special federal laws. It is worth highlighting FZ-125 of 1998, which refers to social insurance, as well as FZ-426 of 2013 on the procedure for assessing working conditions.
Regulations
A significant role in the system under consideration is played by regulatory documents on labor protection at the sub-legislative level. The government has adopted a huge number of regulations regarding safe work. It is worth highlighting only the most important of them.
Government Decree of the Russian Federation No. 1160 regulates the procedure for the formation and amendment of acts in which labor protection rules are enshrined. Ministry of Labor Decree No. 14 approves the procedure for creating an appropriate service in the workplace, and Decree No. 29 approves the procedure for training labor protection and testing knowledge in the field of safe production.
There are also a number of government orders binding on all workers. This, for example, is the order of the Ministry of Labor No. 438, which enshrines the rules for creating labor protection systems. There are also orders of the Ministry of Health, which stipulate lists of factors harmful to health, the procedure for issuing protective equipment, clothing, shoes, etc.
Separately, state standards (state standards) should be highlighted. These are documents, the rules of which must be meticulously executed. GOSTs fix the procedure for briefings, documentation, etc.
Content of local documents
Federal law provides the basis on which all regulatory documents on labor protection at the local level must adhere. Regardless of the specifics, location or professional orientation, any enterprise must possess the following documents:
- training ledger;
- training programs;
- an order to assign professional functions to a person authorized in the field of labor protection;
- job description of a labor protection engineer ;
- personal cards of employees of the enterprise;
- a list of posts for which special shoes or clothing is needed;
- schedule for medical examinations.
Individual entrepreneurs should also draw up local acts concerning labor protection at work. An employment contract concluded by an individual entrepreneur with an employee must necessarily contain provisions on safety at the workplace.
Responsibilities of a Labor Safety Specialist
Having dealt with the main legal documentation relating to safety at work, it is worth moving on to a specialist in the protection of labor activity (hereinafter referred to as OT). Here are the responsibilities a worker has:
- Conducting briefings or seminars for employees of the enterprise. For this, a special schedule is drawn up, which must be adhered to. It is possible to conduct classes with employees directly at workplaces.
- Investigation of industrial accidents or accidents.
- Control over the employees of the enterprise.
- Timely and quality inspection of technical equipment at the enterprise.
- Development of new job descriptions for labor protection.
- Issuing directions to workers for a medical examination.
- Organization of workplaces in accordance with current safety rules.
Thus, the labor protection specialist has an extensive range of professional responsibilities.
Job description of an employee on labor protection
The document that guides the specialist in question in his work has a number of interesting features. So, the job description pays special attention to measures of responsibility that may be assigned to a person for the incorrect performance of their professional duties. Occupational injuries and deaths at work are often punished by the occupational safety specialist himself. However, it is still necessary to prove the direct connection of the labor activity of an occupational health worker with emergency situations at the enterprise.
Otherwise, the safety engineer’s work instruction is not much different from other professional documents. It regulates the work of a specialist, educational requirements, rights and professional functions.
About employee credentials
What can you say about the rights of a labor safety specialist? New regulatory documents (updated job descriptions from 2017) also indicate a number of legal powers of employees. So, an OT specialist has the right to check any workplace without requesting a special notice. In fact, the employee should be accepted and allowed to engage in professional activities everywhere. Otherwise, responsibility will be incurred by citizens who impeded the work of an OH specialist.
The engineer has the opportunity to request for review absolutely any documentation that relates to the organization of the work process or the technical characteristics of the equipment. A health professional must point out facts of incorrect documentation.
Finally, an OT professional has the right to complain to management about individual employees who do not want to fulfill his requirements. In some cases, an immediate appeal to the authorities will even be the responsibility of a specialist.
Workplace
A specialist in the field of industrial safety is obliged to organize his work activities in a quality manner. A qualified OT engineer must have the following types of documents:
- schedules of measures for labor protection;
- the contents of briefings of the planned and extraordinary level;
- safety magazines;
- schedules of upcoming and past events;
- A list of company employees with brief data about each employee.
The employer must hand over to the specialist in OT all the documentation drawn up by the previous employee in the field of safety. These are various accounting books, qualification instructions and other collections of regulatory documents.
Labor protection: basic requirements
What are the requirements for a specialist in the organization of safe production? An employee must possess certain knowledge, skills and abilities that can only be obtained at a higher educational institution. In addition, the engineer must have experience in a similar position for at least one year.
The employer will ask for a document confirming the passage of official accreditation. This is necessary as evidence of their ability to efficiently implement professional duties. It is also worth noting the presence of the following knowledge of a labor protection specialist:
- training employees in safe work and efficient use of equipment;
- the availability of teaching skills, as well as minimal ideas about the organization of training measures for labor protection;
- Ability to navigate in civil law and existing local acts.
You can get the profession of labor protection engineer at universities with a degree in technosphere safety.
Collaboration with employees
Regulatory documents on labor protection impose on the industrial safety engineer a number of responsibilities related to building effective cooperation. With whom exactly should the considered specialist form connections? First of all, with their personal assistants. If there is more than one occupational health worker at the enterprise, then close labor relations should be established in the existing headquarters for organizational and working safety.
The responsibility of the OT officer is also to collaborate with management and staff. An engineer has the right to record data on workers, to request documentation from his boss, to check the activities of workers in the enterprise, etc.