FEATURES OF THE FUNCTIONING OF THE INSTITUTE OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH IN THE CURRENT CONTEXT: A THEORETICAL AND COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive theoretical and comparative study of the functioning of the occupational health and safety system in the current context. Inevitable changes during the period of martial law have occurred in the sphere of labour and employment, worsening the situation of employees and imposing significant restrictions on the exercise of their labour rights. As one of the key institutions of labour law, the institution of occupational safety and health has faced new challenges in the realities of war that could not even have been foreseen in peacetime. These include high risks to workplace safety and workers’ health associated with shelling, landmines, planned and emergency power cuts, lack of heating, water (or a significant deterioration in its quality), prolonged air raid alerts, and so on. All of this underscores the relevance of researching occupational safety and the preservation of our country’s labour force for the future. The relevance of the topic is also driven by the active incorporation of European labour standards into our labour legislation with a view to EU membership.

The aim of this article is to examine the specific features of the functioning of the occupational safety and health system in the current context, taking into account the implementation of European labour standards and the challenges posed by martial law. To achieve this objective, the author has identified a number of tasks, including: defining the theoretical and legal foundations of the occupational health and safety framework; analysing the principles of health and safety at work in the EU and the general rules for implementing these principles; and outlining the directions for reforming the framework under martial law.

The term ‘occupational safety and health’ must first and foremost be understood in both a broad and a narrow sense. In the broad sense, ‘occupational safety and health’ is the body of legal norms regulating the relevant set of social relations in the sphere of employment, which includes guarantees regarding recruitment, dismissal, and the creation of necessary, healthy and safe conditions, as well as the necessary psychological climate in the workplace, and issues such as working hours and rest periods. All of this falls under the concept of ‘decent work’. In the narrow sense, occupational safety and health refers to the regulations governing the establishment of safe and healthy working conditions with the aim of preventing the negative impact of the working environment on the lives and health of workers.  

It seems logical and appropriate to distinguish between the general approach to the term ‘safety’ as a key priority of state policy in the social, political and economic spheres, and the same term in the context of labour relations. In the labour sphere, the main characteristics of safety should be the absence or minimisation of risks to the life, health, working capacity and working longevity of employees; the preservation and/or restoration of mental health; the creation of conditions for psychological comfort and recuperation in the workplace; and, as a strategic objective, the creation of ‘green’ jobs. To enshrine at the legislative level (in the draft Labour Code) the existence of two closely related but not identical terms: occupational safety and occupational health and safety, recognising the former term as broader in scope, functions, opportunities for implementing European labour standards, and measures of state influence.

In wartime conditions, it is necessary to introduce a risk-based approach to occupational health and safety, with an emphasis on risk prevention and minimisation.

Keywords: decent work, worker, workers’ labour rights, occupational health and safety (OHS), safety at work, European standards, principles, protection of workers’ rights, ‘green’ jobs, risk prevention and mitigation, labour law, the right to work, martial law.