Committee for Labour, Employment and Social Protection: on labour safety issues during spring field work

Khristoforov Alexander Nikolaevich, Chairman of the Committee for Labour, Employment and Social Protection of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee: "The safety of the spring sowing campaign is an issue that requires increased attention."

To successfully address the entire complex of labour protection issues and prevent industrial injuries, thematic months, decades, and safety weeks are an important link in the system of preventive measures.

The annual practice of holding month-long campaigns shows that, despite some individual positive results achieved in the agro-industrial complex as a whole, addressing labour protection issues has not become a priority over production performance.

We constantly have to state violations of labour protection rules and regulations, and labour and production discipline at all stages of agricultural production, including during the preparation and execution of spring field work.

Since April 28, more than 80 specialists from executive committees and representatives of supervisory and control bodies, as part of mobile groups, have been visiting organisations and facilities of the agro-industrial complex involved in the sowing campaign.

81 organisations and 179 facilities of the agro-industrial complex, and 433 workplaces have been inspected, revealing 947 instances of violation of current legislation requirements in the field of safe work.

The majority of shortcomings identified in agricultural organisations are the result of violations of labour safety requirements set out in the industry's regulatory and technical legal acts.

Violations are being identified regarding the organisation of provision and the procedure for using personal protective equipment.

Individual violations related to the condition of the organisation's territory, storage of material assets, and the use of makeshift supports (wooden blocks, construction blocks, bricks) during equipment repair and storage are being detected.

There are instances of violations of the deadlines and procedures for conducting briefings and labour protection knowledge checks, and the organisation of medical examinations and health screenings.

It should be noted that no worker injuries occurred during the preparation and repair of agricultural machinery.

Recommendations for eliminating the identified violations issued to heads of organizations included the suspension of 110 workers who had not undergone training, instruction, knowledge testing, and who were not using or were not provided with personal protective equipment (quilted jackets, etc.), the suspension of 76 units of equipment not meeting safety requirements, and the prohibition of 4 types of work.

For prompt response measures, 29 pieces of information were sent to district executive committees, and 10 were sent to prosecutor's offices.

Source: vitebsk-region.gov.by