Problems of improving the national legislation on labor protection

Abstract

The article examines the norms of the current and future national legislation in the field of labor protection and the norms of the legislation of the European Union regarding the safety and health of workers at work. It is noted that the national legislation in the field of labor protection today is characterized by certain obsolescence and inconsistency with the normative documents of the European Union in the relevant field. An analysis of the norms of the drafts of the Law of Ukraine “On Safety and Health of Workers at Work” and the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Liability for Violation of the Requirements of the Law on Safety and Health of Workers at Work” prepared by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is being carried out.
 The analysis of the structure and content of the norms of draft laws shows that the work on the selection and placement of normative material has been properly carried out. The norms of the draft laws correspond to the norms of the Council Directive No. 89/391/EEC and other documents of the European Union in the field of safety and health protection of workers at work.
 Proposals and recommendations for improvement of the specified draft laws are substantiated. It is noted that it is appropriate to use the term “safety and health protection of employees at work” in the title and content of the draft laws, as it is more correctly constructed and more in line with Council Directive No. 89/391/EEC. The author’s definition of the term “safety and health protection of employees at work” is substantiated as a system of measures to prevent and/or reduce the impact of dangerous and harmful production factors, aimed at preserving the life, physiological and psychological functions of the body, and the optimal working capacity of an individual who works at on the basis of an employment contract, at the place of her employment.
 Attention is drawn to the fact that Article 28 of the draft Law of Ukraine “On the Safety and Health of Employees at Work” uses the terms “employees who have recently given birth” and “employees who are breastfeeding”, establishing special measures to ensure safety and health for these categories of employees. At the same time, the main law in the field of labor – the Code of Labor Laws of Ukraine in Chapter XII, dedicated to the protection of women’s labor, does not use these terms, but establishes guarantees, in particular, for women who have children under the age of three, and women who have children aged three to fourteen or children with disabilities. It is emphasized that in Article 28 of the draft law, the last category of female workers is not given attention at all, which is not correct, since they also need special protection. In addition, the specified documents contain norms that are different in terms of content on ensuring the safety and health of female workers. It is proposed to harmonize the relevant norms of Article 28 of the draft law and Chapter XII of the Labor Code of Ukraine.