Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
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Vol. 41, Nº 78 (2023), 309-325
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Legal regulation of occupational
safety and health
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4178.22
Zoriana Коzak *
Lesia Shapoval **
Pavlo Cherevko ***
Abstract
The aim of the article was to discuss the issues of legal
regulation of health and safety in Ukraine. The aim of the research
was achieved with the help of general and special methods of
scientic knowledge. It was concluded that in the conditions of
martial law, the legislative approach to the adoption of new laws,
amendments and additions to existing laws should be carried out
in accordance with international legal standards, concerning the
provision of adequate guarantees for persons exercising the right
to work. The analysis of the content of normative legal acts and
draft laws led to the development of relevant proposals in connection with
the fact that the concept of the prole of the law should reect a holistic
approach to occupational safety and health, with emphasis on measures
to prevent occupational accidents; improvement of working conditions
(increasing the employer’s liability for violations of legislation in the
specied area, imposing on employees the duty to take care of their own
safety and the health of others, etc.).
Keywords: labor rights; labor protection; occupational safety; health
and labor; legal regulation.
* Senior Policy Expert of the Resource and Analysis Center "Society and Environment", Lviv, Ukraine.
ORСID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6104-8853
** Candidate of legal sciences, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Departament of the Civil
and Juridical Disciplines of National Academy of Internal Aairs, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORСID ID: https://
orcid.org/0000-0003-4503-9075
*** PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Civil Law and Procedure of
State University «Uzhhorod National University», Ukraine, Uzhhorod, Ukraine. ORСID ID: https://
orcid.org/ 0000-0002-5311-324X
310
Zoriana Коzak, Lesia Shapoval y Pavlo Cherevko
Legal regulation of occupational safety and health
Regulación jurídica de la seguridad
y salud en el trabajo
Resumen
El objetivo del articulo fue discutir los temas de regulación legal de la
salud y seguridad en Ucrania. El objetivo de la investigación se logró con
la ayuda de métodos generales y especiales del conocimiento cientíco. Se
concluyó que en las condiciones de la ley marcial, el enfoque legislativo para
la adopción de nuevas leyes, enmiendas y adiciones a las leyes vigentes debe
llevarse a cabo de conformidad con las normas jurídicas internacionales,
relativas a la provisión de garantías adecuadas para las personas que
ejercen el derecho a trabajar. El análisis del contenido de los actos jurídicos
normativos y los proyectos de ley condujo al desarrollo de propuestas
pertinentes en relación con al hecho de que, el concepto de perl de la ley,
debería reejar un enfoque holístico de la seguridad y salud en el trabajo,
con énfasis en las medidas para prevenir accidentes laborales; mejora de
las condiciones de trabajo (aumentando la responsabilidad del empleador
por violaciones de la legislación en el área especicada, imponiendo a los
empleados el deber de cuidar su propia seguridad y la salud de los demás,
etc.).
Palabras clave: derechos laborales; protección laboral; seguridad
laboral; salud y trabajo; regulación legal.
Introduction
Protection of the life and health of citizens in the process of their work,
during the performance of ocial duties is one of the most important tasks
of the state throughout the history of mankind (Pogorelova, 2020). Creation
of optimal and safe working conditions at the enterprise, in institutions
and organizations for employees of all branches of production is one of the
urgent needs of today. The improvement of the production environment
contributes to the increase of labor eciency, preservation of working
capacity and health of employees (Tymchenko and Zakrevsky, 2015), and
a high level of ensuring safe and healthy working conditions is a guarantee
of a successful state and a protable capital investment for the state and for
the employer.
Accidents at work and occupational diseases have devastating
consequences for accident victims and their families, especially in human
terms (death, injuries, disability, reduced quality of life, pain, sadness,
suering, low self-esteem) and nancially (e.g., lost prot and loss of
working capacity), as well as high direct and indirect losses to employers
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and the state, the size of which can reach 4% of the gross national product
(Takala, 2005).
According to the estimates of the International Labor Organization
(hereinafter – the ILO), about 2.3 million people die annually in the world
as a result of accidents at the workplace or due to work-related diseases –
an average of 6,000 people every day. Also, about 340 million industrial
accidents and occupational diseases occur every year around the world. At
the same time, material losses from lost working days, medical expenses
and compensation payments exceed 1.25 trillion dollars (approximately 4%
of global gross domestic product) (Tsopa, 2019: 27).
Today, in Ukraine, legislative foundations have been formed to
ensure the functioning of the model that combines state and contractual
regulation in the eld of conditions and labor protection. At the same
time, state regulation of working conditions at the workplace is carried
out by establishing minimum social standards, framework obligations,
while specic quantitative parameters should be determined through the
use of social dialogue mechanisms – during the conclusion of collective
agreements and agreements of various levels.
At the same time, the aggravation of the problems of preserving and
developing the labor potential in the conditions of the economic and
demographic crisis, caused in particular by the war in Ukraine, requires the
creation of eective mechanisms for ensuring safe and harmless working
conditions.
It must be stated that today the state of ensuring labor safety in Ukraine
is also quite low, and the severity coecient of fatal accidents at work is
much higher compared to the average indicators in the European Union
(hereinafter – the EU). Privatization of large and creation of small and
medium-sized enterprises, outdated and inadequate legislative framework
on safety and health at work, as well as a high level of informal employment
and undeclared work created signicant obstacles to the prevention of
accidents at work and occupational diseases, and their proper registration.
In addition, eight years of armed conict and more than a year of full-
scale war have turned Ukraine into one of the most mined countries in
the world, and the large-scale destruction of infrastructure and industry
requires considerable eort and resources.
In order to prevent cases of occupational injuries, occupational diseases,
industrial accidents and other unexpected situations at work, a necessary
task for our state is to reform the legislation in the eld of occupational
safety, taking into account the legal developments of the EU countries. The
analysis and rethinking of the issues of legal regulation of labor provision
are designed to formulate directions for improving the law-making practice
of this social and legal phenomenon. In addition, the unprecedented
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Zoriana Коzak, Lesia Shapoval y Pavlo Cherevko
Legal regulation of occupational safety and health
experience of Ukraine in the mentioned eld, when work during martial
law is associated with a large number of new, in particular, deadly risks,
should become an example for countries where the possibility of armed
conicts is high.
1. Methodology of the study
Scientic research is built on a system of general scientic and special
methods of scientic knowledge, in particular: the historical-legal method,
which was applied in the study of the prerequisites for the emergence and
regularities of the development and establishment of legal regulation of
labor safety; the dialectical method – which made it possible to analyze
the content of the concepts «labor safety», «legal regulation» in their
development and correlation; a systematic method that made it possible to
carry out research and systematic analysis of social relations that arise in
the process of realizing the human right to occupational safety during work;
the target method that was used to determine the specics of provision in
the eld of legal regulation of labor protection and health; the method of
observation, the manifestation of which is knowledge and study of the object
of research; with the help of a prognostic method, the recommendations for
improving the labor legislation of Ukraine, in particular, for improving the
areas of legal regulation of legal relations in the eld of labor protection and
health; logical methods and techniques – deductions, inductions, analogies,
analysis, which were used during the entire scientic research.
2. Analysis of recent research
The problem of legal regulation of industrial safety and occupational
health and safety has been paid attention to in one way or another in
their research by many scientists, whose works examine theoretical and
methodological issues of management, planning, promotion of occupational
health and safety, the eectiveness of the social insurance system against
industrial accidents and measures on labor protection.
However, despite the large number of theoretical and practical scientic
developments in the specied eld, the expediency of a comprehensive study
of the legal and scientic-methodological support of the national strategy
of occupational safety and health does not lose its relevance. Among the
complex of main problems, the problem of improving the normative and
legal regulation of labor relations in the conditions of special legal regimes
is extremely important, which is relevant not only for Ukraine, but also for
other countries on the territory of which armed conicts are ongoing or
there is a threat of their occurrence.
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The purpose of the article is to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the
legal regulation of labor protection and health in Ukraine based on the study
of scientic works on the theory of labor law and related elds, normative
legal acts of Ukraine and judicial practice, to determine the prospects for
improving the national legislation on labor and practices of its application.
The achievement of the set goal is subordinated to the solution of the
following tasks: to determine the current state and trends of normative
and legal regulation of the specied legal relations in Ukraine; to analyze
individual legislative amendments to the legislation in the conditions of
the extraordinary legal regime caused by the war; outline the main areas
of improvement of the legislation regulating legal relations in the eld of
occupational health and safety.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. General characteristics of the legal regulation of
occupational health and safety in Ukraine
Legal regulation of labor relations in the eld of occupational health
and safety has its own specic features: legal regulation is carried out
with the help of a comprehensive system of legal means; formalization
of labor relations, which arise in the process of ensuring labor safety and
health and are enshrined in the provisions of the legislation, and are used
in the regulation of these legal relations; legal regulation has a regulatory
eect and consists in the degree of legal inuence on labor relations while
ensuring occupational health and safety.
The concept of providing employees with working conditions that meet
the requirements of occupational safety and hygiene was rst formulated in
Art. 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(International Covenant On Economic, Social And Cultural Rights, 1966),
ratied by Ukraine in 1973. This document provided an interpretation of
the right of every person to favorable working conditions dened by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Universal Declaration Of Human
Rights, 1948).
The implementation of fundamental rights in the eld of labor, which
is one of the main strategic goals of the ILO, was reected in the Decent
Work Concept introduced in 1999, an important component of which is
occupational safety. The Constitution of Ukraine established a number of
labor rights of citizens, which are norms of direct eect, which include, in
particular, the right to proper, safe and healthy working conditions.
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Legal regulation of occupational safety and health
Article 43 of the Constitution of Ukraine established the right to work
for every citizen. The state provides the opportunity to earn a living by work
that is not prohibited by law and that a person freely chooses or freely agrees
to (Constitution Of Ukraine, 1996). When it comes to the right to work as a
natural and inalienable right of a person to own and use his abilities to work
(physical, creative and intellectual), the development and provision by the
state of the mechanisms for the realization of such a right comes to the fore.
At the national level, the legal regulation of the specied activity is
carried out on the basis of the Code of Labor Laws and the Law of Ukraine
«On Employment of the Population», according to which everyone has the
right to freely choose the place, type of activity and type of occupation, which
is ensured by the state through the creation of legal, organizational and
economic conditions for such a choice (On Employment Of The Population,
2012).
The legislation of Ukraine on labor protection is a system of interrelated
legal acts that regulate relations in the eld of social protection of citizens
in the process of work. It consists of the Law of Ukraine «On Labor
Protection», the Code of Labor Laws of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine «On
Mandatory State Social Insurance» and the normative legal acts adopted in
accordance with them.
In Art. 49 of the Constitution of Ukraine enshrines the right of
every citizen to health care, medical assistance and medical insurance
(Constitution Of Ukraine, 1996). This norm reects the requirements of
global and regional international legal standards in the eld of health care
regarding the establishment of the relevant right, as well as the means of its
enforcement that the state has at its disposal.
Among the laws, a special place is occupied by the Civil Code of Ukraine
dated January 16, 2003, which for the rst time at this level established a
number of important human rights in the eld of health care, in particular
the right to health care (Article 283), medical assistance (Article 284),
medical information (Article 285), medical condentiality (Article 286),
etc. (Civil Code Of Ukraine, 2003).
According to the Law of Ukraine “On Labor Protection”, labor
protection is a system of legal, social-economic, organizational-technical,
sanitary-hygienic and medical-prophylactic measures and means aimed at
preserving the life, health and working capacity of a person in the process
of work activity (On Labor Protection, 2002). This law denes the main
provisions regarding the implementation of the constitutional right of
employees to protect their life and health in the process of work, to proper,
safe and healthy working conditions, regulates, with the participation of the
relevant state authorities, relations between the employer and the employee
on issues of safety, occupational hygiene and industrial environment and
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
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establishes a unied procedure for the organization of labor protection in
Ukraine.
Modern, developed labor law as such is impossible without the complex
regulatory and legal interaction of international and national labor
standards. After the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine
and the EU, Ukraine is making signicant eorts to bring the current
legislation into line with international and European standards on safety
and health at work.
Recently, these eorts were enshrined in the Concept of reforming the
labor protection management system in Ukraine approved by the Cabinet
of Ministers of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the CMU) in 2018
(Resolution Of The CMU No. 989-r, 2018), which creates the basis for
reforming and bringing the national safety system into line and health at
work to EU and ILO standards and oers a plan for its implementation.
In addition, EU Directives on safety and health at work, such
as 2009/104/EC of September 16, 2009, concerning the minimum
requirements for safety and health during the use of work equipment by
workers during work (Directive No. 2009/ 104/EC, 2009) and 89/656/
EEC of November 30, 1989 (Directive No. 89/656/EEC, 1989), concerning
minimum safety and health requirements for the use of personal protective
equipment by workers at the workplace, were enshrined in the current
normative and legal framework through the orders of the Ministry of Social
Policy of Ukraine.
However, the high rates of accidents at work and occupational diseases
indicate that Ukraine still has a lot to do when it comes to preventing
occupational risks and promoting the safety, health and welfare of workers.
In order to improve working conditions in Ukraine and ensure a high-
quality, sustainable and successful process of approximation of national
legislation to international labor standards, there are still a number of
challenges that need to be overcome. Among other things, we are talking
about the following:
• overly detailed, complex and outdated legal framework for safety
and health at work, consisting of too many laws/norms that often
contradict each other;
• invalid provisions of legislation, for example: a) provisions regarding
workers who work in dicult, harmful and dangerous conditions
and are entitled to higher wages and additional privileges. This not
only encourages workers to work in such conditions, it also removes
responsibility from employers for and reduces motivation to create
safe and healthy working conditions; b) prescriptions according
to which employers are obliged to spend at least 0.5% of the wage
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Legal regulation of occupational safety and health
fund for the previous year on measures to create safe and healthy
working conditions.
• The specied provision reduces the motivation of employers
who already have modern safety and health conditions at work,
and exempts from responsibility those employers who have
unsatisfactory working conditions, but have complied with the
specied norm. In addition, the list of labor protection measures and
means, as well as types of labor protection services, provided for by
the Law «On Labor Protection», does not include widely recognized
relevant types of occupational safety and health activities provided
for, for example, in the Occupational health services convention,
1985 (No. 161) (Occupational Health Services Convention, 1985);
• national legislation on safety and health at work does not cover all
sectors of the economy, all employers and all employees. Including
self-employed workers; trainees, apprentices, trainees and persons
in other situations that should be considered as vocational training;
an administrator, director, manager or a person performing their
functions who do not have an employment contract, but receive
remuneration for this activity; a person in a situation where he
works for another person without a formalized employee-employer
relationship is economically dependent on the beneciary of the
activity; as well as employees who have an employment relationship,
but do not have an ocial or written employment contract, for
example, fully or partially undeclared employees;
• the legislation on safety and health at work does not provide for
employers’ obligations to use and constantly adapt to changing
circumstances the necessary measures for the safety and health of
employees, including assessment and prevention of occupational
risks, consultation with employees and their participation in solving
safety issues and health at work, supervision of health, provision of
information, training, necessary organization and means;
• the national legal framework on safety and health at work does
not provide for the responsibility of employers, which cannot be
transferred to third parties, for the safety and health of employees
in all aspects related to work;
• the current process of approximation of national legislation to EU
norms is focused on the implementation of separate directives,
and not on the transposition of the general EU architecture on
safety and health at work, starting with bringing it into line with
the Framework Directive 89/391/EEC (Directive No. 89/391/EEC,
1989), and only after that – to separate directives;
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• the level of current legal acts used to transpose EU directives on
safety and health at work is inadequate, as they do not have sucient
legal force to ensure their eectiveness and sustainability.
3.2. Legal regulation of occupational health and safety in
Ukraine in the postcovid and postwar period
The cause of work-related death, injury and illness is constantly
changing around the world. These changes can be gradual or drastic, but in
any case, they aect the safety, health and well-being of workers. The usual
approach to risk management is insucient in the complex conditions
faced by organizations today.
It is worth emphasizing that the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the new
risk factors that have proven the outdated approach used by organizations.
A rethinking took place – large-scale measures and innovative political
solutions are absolutely necessary to overcome the crisis, to preserve the
standard of living of the population and restore the economy and well-
being after the pandemic.
Currently, the reform of labor protection and health in Ukraine is taking
place in two key directions – at the level of legislation and taking into
account digitization and digital transformation. Given the subject of the
study, we will focus on the legislative level.
The need to implement international standards in the eld of occupational
health and safety in our country is of particular practical importance due to
Ukraine’s desire to join the European Community, and the Law of Ukraine
“On Occupational Safety” adopted in 1992 is outdated for obvious reasons.
Having signed and ratied the Association Agreement between Ukraine
and the EU in 2014, Ukraine undertook to ensure the gradual adaptation of
legislation in accordance with the directions dened in the Agreement and
their eective implementation.
In order to fulll its obligations under the Agreement, Ukraine
undertakes to gradually (from 2 to 10 years) bring its legislation closer to EU
legislation in the eld of occupational health and safety by implementing 27
EU directives. At the same time, it is worth noting the key Directive 89/391/
EEC of June 12, 1989 “On the introduction of measures to improve the
safety and health of workers at the workplace” (Sukhanenko, 2021).
Below, we will examine what steps have been taken in this regard, having
analyzed the draft laws in the specied area, developed and submitted for
discussion.
The Ministry of Economy published a draft of the Law of Ukraine “On
Safety and Health of Workers at Work” (hereinafter referred to as the draft
law) on its ocial website. The document was developed with the aim of
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Legal regulation of occupational safety and health
forming a new national system for the prevention of occupational risks
by implementing at the legislative level a risk-oriented approach in the
eld of organizing the safety and health of employees and implementing
the provisions of the Council Directive 89/391/EEC on the introduction
of measures designed to encourage the improvement of safety and health
protection employees at work (hereinafter – the European Council Directive
No. 89/391/EEC).
The draft law proposes to introduce a new national system for the
prevention of industrial risks, based on the principles of risk assessment,
risk control and management, which are basic for the construction of
similar systems in developed countries of Europe and the world.
The consistent hierarchy of these principles is dened by European
Council Directive No. 89/391/EEC and provides for: risk prevention;
assessment of risks that cannot be avoided; elimination of sources of
risks; adaptation of working conditions to the employee, especially during
the arrangement of workplaces, selection of production equipment, work
methods; adaptation to technical progress; replacement of high-risk
equipment with safe or less dangerous equipment; development of an
agreed general policy for the prevention of industrial risks, etc.
Therefore, in contrast to the existing system, the approaches proposed
by the draft act provide for the organization of the safety and health system
of employees according to the “proactive” principle of preventive actions.
A change in the principles of building the system involves, among other
things, a change in the object of state policy inuence: from the current
“labor safety” or “labor protection” to the European “employee safety”. The
draft act envisages the introduction of a system of minimum requirements
for the safety and health of employees based on the European example,
and regular assessment by the employer of risks that may arise at a specic
workplace, development and implementation of measures to minimize or
eliminate them.
The analysis of the investigation materials of accidents at work show
that the majority of measures aimed at preventing accidents consist in
conducting unscheduled briengs on occupational safety issues. Such a
uniform approach, which is not aimed at eliminating the causes of accidents,
leads to their repetition and does not contribute to their prevention.
Therefore, the draft law is aimed at increasing the eectiveness of
procedures for investigating accidents, occupational diseases and accidents.
Also, the draft act envisages the introduction of informing the competent
authorities about all accidents, and keeping records by the employer of all
incidents that could potentially lead to an accident.
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In general, we share the point of view that the implementation
of European Council Directive No. 89/391/EEC provided for by the
draft law is a logical and consistent continuation of the chosen course
of approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU legislation and will
contribute, in particular: to increasing the level of protection of life and
health of employees; increasing the responsibility of employers for creating
proper working conditions and a safe working environment; simplication
of legislation in the eld of safety and health of employees, reduction of
the administrative and regulatory burden on the employer; introduction of
mechanisms for improving the safety conditions of workers and relevant
economic incentives; strengthening fair competition, expanding access
of Ukrainian enterprises to the international market and increasing their
competitiveness on this market; gradual implementation of European
Union legislation into national legislation (Guidelines on ensuring safety
and health at work in war and post-war times, 2021).
There is no doubt that the process of developing any legal act, conducting
consultations and discussing it with national stakeholders in order to
improve it and achieve a wider consensus, as well as alignment with relevant
international and European labor standards, is always complex, time-
consuming and time-consuming. However, this algorithm will provide a
better and more balanced nal version of the legal act.
The introduction of martial law in Ukraine on the basis of the Law «On
the Legal Regime of Martial Law» (On The Legal Regime Of Martial Law,
2022) led to a new stage in the development of labor relations. The sphere of
labor protection and health, in which the vital interests of the citizens of the
state are intertwined, is no exception, and required an immediate reaction
from the legislator in order to ensure its normal functioning. Conicts
between the interests of employees and employers, which are inevitable
even in peacetime, have become even more acute in the conditions of
martial law, and require prompt intervention by the state with the help
of appropriate legal regulation in the form of adopting new laws, making
changes and additions to existing legislation.
The purpose of the adoption of the draft Law of Ukraine «On
Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Deregulation in the
Field of Labor Protection by Changing the Permit System to the Insurance
System for Employees Performing High-Danger Work» (hereinafter – the
Draft Law No. 2655-IX) is to simplify the procedure for starting work for
employers increased safety and increasing their responsibility due to the
introduction of mandatory employee life and health insurance (Draft Law
Of Ukraine No. 2655-IX, 2023).
Occupational health and safety legislation requires employers to provide
adequate, safe and healthy working conditions. At the same time, in order to
acquire the right to perform work of increased danger and to operate (use)
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Legal regulation of occupational safety and health
machines, mechanisms, and equipment of increased danger, the employer
must currently obtain appropriate permits in accordance with Article 21
of the Law of Ukraine «On Labor Protection» (On Labor Protection. Law
Of Ukraine, 2015), and the mechanism and method are determined by
the Procedure for Issuing Permits for Performing High-Danger Works
and for the Operation (Use) of Machines, Mechanisms, and High-Danger
Equipment, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
No. 1107 dated October 26, 2011 (Resolution Of The Cabinet Of Ministers
Of Ukraine No. 1107, 2011).
However, obtaining these permits is a rather time-consuming procedure,
in particular, associated with the high cost of conducting an examination of
the state of labor protection and safety of the industrial production of the
business entity.
Such a procedure in many cases has a formal character. In addition,
within the existing legislative mechanisms of supervision and control over
compliance with legislation in the eld of labor protection is dicult to
verify. or impossible at all. Even with a positive expert opinion, the creation
of safe conditions, in particular regarding the performance of high-risk
works, is not guaranteed due to the employer’s lack of sucient motivation
for their creation, in particular nancial (for example, the obligation to
compensate the damage caused to the employee) (Explanatory Note To The
Draft Law Of Ukraine, 2023).
The negative perception of such a permit procedure is exacerbated
by the high corruption risks that accompany the actions of ocials and
constantly become the subject of law enforcement authorities’ attention.
At the same time, the global experience of reimbursement of costs is
based on the wide involvement of guarantees of compensation of losses
from insurance systems in these processes. The European experience
has long been based on a suciently eective model, when insurance is a
mandatory condition for those who conduct business related to increased
risks for employees, when those who organize the performance of high-
risk work insure their liability to potential victims. This ensures that the
employer will be motivated to create safe conditions, and the victims will
receive compensation for damages (Explanatory Note To The Draft Law Of
Ukraine, 2023).
In our opinion, the introduction of the insurance system for the
performance of high-risk works will bring the legal regulation of
occupational health and safety in Ukraine closer to the principles that are
generally recognized in the world. The state will carry out the supervisory
function in a more civilized way, agreeing on the main basic conditions
for concluding insurance contracts, including such parameters as the sum
insured, the procedure for making payments, etc.
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In general, we consider the importance of adapting national legislation
in the eld of legal regulation of occupational health and safety to the
requirements and standards of the EU Directives to be indisputable.
In particular, among other things, in accordance with the provisions
of Directive No. 89/391/EEC, the Code of Labor Laws of Ukraine and the
Law of Ukraine «On Labor Protection» should be supplemented with a
provision on the employer’s obligations to take measures necessary for the
safety and health of employees, including measures to prevent professional
risks, information and training, etc., as well as supplement the relevant
legislation with the duty of employees to take care of their own safety and
the health of others.
In conclusion, we note that the legal regulation of occupational safety and
health of workers is carried out with the help of a large number of local legal
acts (standards, rules, instructions, clarications, etc.), however, a unied
legal act that would dene a comprehensive approach to occupational safety
and health of workers, regardless of the form of ownership, type of activity
and branch of production, has not yet been adopted.
The problem of ensuring safety, occupational health and safety in
Ukraine cannot be completely solved by the outlined issues. We see
the prospects for further scientic investigations and their practical
implementation in: economic stimulation of employers to create safe
working conditions; dierentiation of violations of legislation in this area;
increasing responsibility for violations of legislation, etc.
Conclusions
On the basis of the conducted scientic review and analysis of the
peculiarities of the legal regulation of occupational health and safety in
Ukraine, certain reasoned conclusions should be drawn.
Legal regulation of labor and health protection – streamlining labor
relations and enshrining them in the relevant legal norms, with the aim
of their protection, development and ensuring a high level of modern
production environment, which excludes the inuence of dangerous and
harmful factors on the life and health of employees.
In the conditions of martial law and in the post-war period, the legislative
approach to the adoption of new laws, amendments and additions to the
current acts in Ukraine must take place in compliance with international
legal standards regarding the provision of adequate guarantees in the eld
of occupational health and safety, which consist in: simplifying signicant
the number of legal acts in the specied area, by carrying out their inventory,
modernization and systematization; harmonization of national legislation
322
Zoriana Коzak, Lesia Shapoval y Pavlo Cherevko
Legal regulation of occupational safety and health
with international labor norms and European standards; formation of
eective state mechanisms, which will ensure eective implementation and
inevitable execution of legal acts.
The creation of a modern model of occupational safety and health
protection in Ukraine requires, among other things: improvement of
conceptual support and current legislation on occupational safety and
occupational health and the mechanism of its implementation; creation
of conditions for the implementation of international labor norms and
standards on occupational health and safety to national legislation.
Directions for improving labor legislation in the eld of legal regulation
of labor protection and health in Ukraine are proposed. In particular, the
prole law should reect a holistic approach to occupational safety and
health of employees with an emphasis on measures to prevent accidents
and accidents at work, improve working conditions (strengthening the
employer’s responsibility for violations of legislation in the specied area,
imposing on employees the duty to take care of their own safety and health
of others, etc.).
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Esta revista fue editada en formato digital y publicada
en julio de 2023, por el Fondo Editorial Serbiluz,
Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo-Venezuela
Vol.41 Nº 78
