In Belarus, it is planned to reduce the share of harmful and hazardous workplaces by 1% annually.

Belarus plans to reduce the proportion of jobs with harmful and (or) hazardous working conditions by 1% annually over the next five years. This is stipulated by the concept of the state program "Social Protection and Employment Promotion 2016-2020," as reported to a BELTA correspondent by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.

In 2016-2020, measures to develop the occupational safety and health system will be implemented within the framework of the "Occupational Safety and Health" subprogram, which aims to improve working conditions and occupational safety and health, and reduce workplace injuries and occupational diseases.

The existence of jobs with harmful and (or) hazardous working conditions is one of the factors hindering economic development, reducing the quality of the labour potential, and lowering labour productivity. The proportion of harmful and hazardous jobs in organisations across the republic remains quite high (averaging around 30% of the total number of jobs). Technical re-equipment and modernisation of production facilities contribute to the creation of healthy and safe working conditions in organisations and the improvement of working conditions for employees. For instance, over Br30.8 trillion was spent on these purposes last year, which allowed for the improvement of working conditions at 40,673 jobs with harmful and (or) hazardous working conditions. This work will continue in the future. It involves enhancing the technical and economic level of existing production facilities, workshops, and sections through the implementation of advanced equipment and technologies, mechanisation and automation of production, modernisation, and the replacement of outdated and physically worn-out equipment with new, more productive machinery.

High performance in occupational safety is facilitated not only by punitive measures but also by moral and material incentives, the ministry noted. Both forms of stimulation can be applied both at the level of work collectives (departments) on a competitive basis, and to specific employees responsible for the organisation and state of occupational safety and discipline. In recent years, the establishment of specific incentive measures for employees to comply with occupational safety requirements in contracts, labour agreements, collective agreements, bonus regulations, and other local normative legal acts has become widespread. This practice needs to be expanded: employees must be interested in eliminating or reducing occupational risks.

In the system of preventive measures aimed at ensuring safe working conditions, personal protective equipment (PPE) plays an important role. According to specialists, it is necessary to improve the normative legal acts establishing requirements for providing employees with PPE, taking into account the technical regulations of the Customs Union "On the Safety of Personal Protective Equipment", interstate and state standards.

In the context of economic modernisation, the requirements for the qualifications of occupational safety specialists are constantly growing. Training, retraining, and professional development of employees on occupational safety issues should be considered among the priority measures aimed at improving working conditions and occupational safety. This primarily applies to those employed in the most hazardous types of activities – industry, construction, and agriculture.

Since the majority of industrial accidents are related to the human factor, many of them can be avoided by correcting employees' behaviour through informing them. Occupational safety months will also contribute to this.

News of Belarus (BELTA)