The requirements for the examination of the state of labor protection and safety of industrial production have been changed

In the Official Gazette of Ukraine № 10 of February 4, 2022, the orders of the Ministry of Economy, developed by the State Labor Office, were published, in particular:

   – Order of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine of January 6, 2022 № 34-22 “On approval of Requirements to expert organizations that intend to perform (perform) examination of labor protection and safety of industrial production and compliance of machines, mechanisms, high risk equipment with the legislation on labor protection and industrial safety “, registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on February 1, 2022 under № 118/37454, the effective date of which is April 1, 2022;

– Order of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine of December 31, 2021 № 1191-21 “On approval of forms of expert opinions”, registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on February 1, 2022 on № 119/37455, effective on February 4, 2022 and which, in its in turn, approved, developed by the State Labor Office, forms of expert opinions on the state of labor protection and safety of industrial production, as well as provides for their signing and approval by electronic signatures from March 1, 2022.

         Current requirements for expert organizations and existing Forms of expert opinions contain general provisions on the activities of expert organizations, do not provide for the reflection of any information on the actual state of labor protection in the expert opinions and in fact do not provide for control over compliance with established requirements, resulting in frequent cases of falsification by individual businesses: forgery of expert opinions, expert opinions by organizations that are not accredited to carry out this activity, and often a completely formal approach to expertise.

         Instead, the updated Requirements for expert organizations and the updated Forms of Opinions provide for a number of significant innovations, including, in particular, the obligation to provide expert organizations to the State Labor: information on the scope of accreditation of expert organizations; information on staffing and changes in the composition of technical experts; copies of approved expert opinions, which will contain comprehensive information on the state of labor protection of the enterprise intending to obtain a permit (information on training on labor protection, medical examinations, laboratory tests of working conditions, certification of workplaces, information on production equipment, etc.) .

         The changes will establish a single procedure for informing, form an information base of approved expert opinions, prevent abuse and promote transparency of expert activities, and the deadline for entry into force will allow expert organizations to adapt to the approved changes.

         Currently, the State Labor Inspectorate is working to revise the application form for a permit and, in fact, the permit form itself, in order to introduce the possibility of issuing permits for work / operation of high-risk equipment in electronic form.

         In general, these changes do not impose any additional requirements for employers, however, due to the standardization of the work of expert organizations allow to ensure the issuance of permits in electronic form.