The Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine has prepared a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers on the reform of the State Labor Service of Ukraine. The document has already been sent for approval to the interested government authorities. This was reported by the ministry's press service, according to UNN.
The proposed package of changes envisages a transition from a model in which the state simultaneously controls and effectively influences access to the market for services in the field of occupational safety, to a model where the State Labor Service focuses on its key function: supervision of labor safety and control over compliance with labor legislation. Among the proposed changes are: separation of control functions, transfer of part of the procedures to independent accredited bodies, cancellation of approvals and participation in procedures that are not state supervision, as well as digitalization of documents and decisions
As the ministry indicated, these changes are the first stage of the State Labor Service reform.
They should help form a transparent market for services in the field of occupational safety, reduce the administrative burden on business, minimize the risks of pressure, and direct the resources of the State Labor Service to control real risks to the life and health of workers. The next stage should be the digitalization of the occupational safety sphere in the Obriy system
The ministry also noted that according to preliminary calculations, the minimum effect from the reduction of some procedures could amount to 4.473 billion hryvnias per year for business. At the same time, the released administrative resource of the State Labor Service, according to the ministry's estimate, could reach 27.205 million hryvnias per year and be directed to risk-oriented supervision and inspections where there is a real danger to workers.
Addition
According to the draft resolution "On Amendments to the Regulations on the State Labor Service of Ukraine," published on the Ministry of Economy website, it is planned to separate certain functions of the State Labor Service.
In particular, it is planned to establish that the main tasks of the State Labor Service are:
- implementation of state supervision and control in the sphere of activities related to high-risk objects, for compliance with legislation on occupational safety;
- providing employers and employees with information and consultations on effective means of complying with legislation, the supervision and control of which is within the powers of the State Labor Service, and preventing possible violations thereof.
The State Labor Service, in accordance with the tasks assigned to it:
- carries out state supervision (control) in the field of ensuring chemical safety and chemical product management for compliance with relevant hygienic standards and for the implementation of necessary measures to minimize (control) risks;
- implements measures provided for by chemical safety management plans (currently such a norm is absent);
- conducts inspections of employers regarding the fulfillment of the quota of workplaces for the employment of persons with disabilities;
- carries out state control in the field of employment of persons with disabilities for compliance with employment legislation (currently such a norm is absent);
- conducts an assessment and provides a conclusion regarding the compensation of costs for reasonable accommodation measures or the provision of subsidies for their implementation (currently such a norm is absent);
- conducts an assessment of compliance with criteria that give the right to benefits to enterprises/entrepreneurs for the labor integration of persons with disabilities and protected employment enterprises, and provides a conclusion on compliance with such criteria (currently such a norm is absent);
- carries out inspections of compliance by the working bodies of the executive directorate of the Social Insurance Fund of Ukraine against unemployment and territorial bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine with legislation on mandatory state social insurance in terms of appointment, calculation, and payment of benefits, compensations, provision of social services, and other types of material security, implementation of insurance payments for the purpose of observing the rights and guarantees of insured persons;
- develops norms and rules on issues of subsoil protection, safe conduct of mining operations, and their surveying support (currently such a norm is absent);
- processes and analyzes information on the annual plan for the development of mining operations;
carries out licensing of activities for the production of industrial explosives and control over compliance by business entities with relevant license conditions;
provides employers and employees with information and explanations on effective means of complying with legislation and preventing possible violations, in particular by conducting information campaigns, as well as providing consultations directly at workplaces, which, in the case of a special access regime to individual objects or premises of the employer, are carried out with their prior consent.
In addition, it is planned to establish that the State Labor Service will carry out state mining supervision on issues of:
- compliance with requirements for the safe conduct of mining operations during geological study and development of mineral deposits, construction and operation of underground structures, liquidation (conservation) of mining operations;
- fulfillment of requirements for subsoil protection during the establishment of conditions for mineral raw materials and the operation of mineral deposits;
- compliance with the rules for conducting geological and surveying work during pilot-industrial development and operation of mineral deposits;
- completeness of extraction of estimated mineral reserves and components present in them, compliance with the established procedure for accounting for mineral reserves, the validity and timeliness of their write-off;
- compliance with rules and technologies for processing mineral raw materials;
- correctness and timeliness of measures that guarantee the safety of people, buildings, structures, and the natural environment, mining excavations, and wells from the harmful effects of work related to subsoil use.
The State Labor Service will also approve the liquidation and conservation of mining facilities or their sections in the prescribed manner; projects of work related to the pilot-industrial development of minerals; rules for the technical operation of mineral deposits and processing of mineral raw materials in terms of compliance with the requirements of subsoil legislation.
At the same time, the State Labor Service is deprived of some functions, in particular:
- supervision of the activities of the Social Insurance Fund of Ukraine;
- conducting expertise of project documentation for compliance with the requirements of regulatory legal acts on ensuring safety during the handling of industrial explosives;
- approval of projects for conducting pilot-industrial extraction of minerals, projects and annual plans for their extraction and processing, as well as projects for the construction of underground structures regarding compliance with the requirements of the Mining Law of Ukraine, legislation on industrial safety and occupational health;
- issuance of licenses for the production of industrial explosives and control over compliance with license conditions.
The explanatory note states that in connection with changes in legislation, there was a need to bring the regulations on the State Labor Service into compliance with the requirements of the law, in particular, as established by Law No. 3992-IX.
According to the law, a redistribution and optimization of functions between central executive authorities has been carried out. Thus, in May 2024, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill by which the State Labor Service of Ukraine is deprived of some uncharacteristic functions as part of deregulation.