The purpose of attestation of workplaces is to draw up legal grounds for providing guarantees and compensations provided by law for employees with harmful and dangerous working conditions.
Scientific Research and Producing Enterprise Ekologiya offers following services on assessment of workplaces:
- Consulting on administrative order of workplaces assessment.
- Assigning and completing of the list of workplaces to be assessed.
- Sanitary and hygienic researches of physical and chemical factors of industrial environment and working process.
- Evaluation of working process difficulty and intensity at workplace.
- Execution of research reports in accordance with forms, established by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
- Evaluation of completeness of employee involvement during working day and estimation of occupational factor duration (motion study).
- Completing of "Table of working condition".
- Calculation of surcharges to basic rate and calculation of additional vacation for harmful working conditions.
- Completing the list of workplaces, for which preferential pension coverage is recommended (Lists No. 1, 2).
- Completing the list of workplaces, for which compensations and benefits (extra charge, additional vacation, free special nutrition) are recommended, as provided by law.
- Consulting on executing and issuing of administrative order on results of workplace assessment.
Scope of application
The aim of workplace assessment is to execute legal basis for provision of guarantees and granting bonuses, provided by law, for works under harmful and dangerous conditions.
The employer should make arrangements for workplace assessment if manufacturing process (technological processes, equipment, materials, manufactured articles) is an potential source of harmful and dangerous factors, having an adverse effect on an employee's health (clause 1 of the Procedure No. 442).
The legal grounds for such assessments are regulatory acts on work safety and hygiene, as well as index of manufactures, professions and positions with harmful working conditions (clause 1.2 of the Guidance No. 41).
To make sure that it is necessary to assess workplaces, the enterprise with harmful and dangerous manufacturing process should analyze regulatory requirements to work safety and hygiene with respect to its manufacturing process, and also the following documents:
- Lists of manufacturing processes, professions and positions, which are entitled to age pension benefits as approved by the Resolution No. 36.
- Lists of works to be paid according to premium rate (for example, such lists of works for building sector, approved by the Resolution No. 576).
- The list of manufacturing processes, professions and positions, where additional vacations are suggested (Resolution No. 1290).
- The List No. 4430-87, containing titles of chemical agents, work with which requires workers to be given milk.
The employer is obliged to assess workplaces if the works, factors, professions, which are at the employer's enterprise, are present in these documents. In such a case, the assessment is necessary regardless of legal status of employer (legal entity or sole proprietor).
The procedure of carrying out of the workplaces assessment
Basic regulatory documents concerning the process of workplaces assessment at the enterprise are the Resolution No. 442 and the Guidance No. 41. The assessment should be legalized by the order of the director, in which the composition of assessment commission and procedure of workplaces assessment should be specified.
The assessment of workplaces should be carried out not less than each five years. The assessment can be carried out more often if it is expressly provided by collective agreement. Extra assessment can be carried out if working conditions at the enterprise changed essentially.
To perform sanitary and hygienic researches as a part of assessment, laboratories, certified by State Standardization, Metrology and Certification Centre, should be involved. Such laboratories should have license to perform such researches with the aim of assessment, issued by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
Consequences of failure to carry out of the assessment.
Firstly, if the assessment was not carried out, but the enterprise bears expenses on payment of compensations and provides guarantees to the workers (additional vacations, risen wages, overalls, etc.), in case of auditing there can arise questions concerning legalness of such payments, as well as problems with their taxation.
Secondly, if the enterprise fail to carry out the assessment and fail to provide proper guarantees and pay compensations to the workers, each employee, working in harmful conditions, has a right to bring a court action for compensation in moral damage and financial loss. In such a case, failure to carry out the assessment will not save the employer from liability and, moreover, will be a proof of the employer's guilt.
Thirdly, failure to carry out the assessment of workplaces is a violation of work safety legislation, in particular, of the Resolution No. 442. The violator – director of the enterprise can be brought to administrative liability in the form of penalty in amount of 2-5 personal exemptions (part 2 of the article 41 of the Administrative Violations Code of Ukraine.