We began cooperation in the field of training related to changes in occupational safety legislation with the company "SMARTA". The company has extensive experience in this area — more than 15 years; the SMARTA team is always informed of the latest innovations and legislative changes. SMARTA's portfolio includes dozens of training courses and programs; the experts are professionals who can clearly and simply explain complex issues and help occupational safety and industrial safety specialists of enterprises and organizations learn everything necessary in a short time.
The SMARTA team
Alena Petrovna Lysak, Director of the Training Department. Expert in occupational safety, participant in Ministry of Labor working groups on occupational safety training.
Yulia Alekseevna Kuropteva, expert, methodologist in occupational safety, developer of corporate safety training courses.
Andrey Viktorovich Moskvichev, lead expert in occupational safety. The only representative of expert and scientific organizations who directly participated in discussions of methodological issues on special assessment of working conditions (SOUT) in working groups of executive authorities.
Marina Viktorovna Lukina, expert, methodologist in occupational safety. Developer of e-learning courses in safety.
The beginning of 2021 was marked by large-scale changes in labor safety legislation. With the entry into force of the new occupational safety rules, employers faced many questions about how to correctly conduct and document an unscheduled assessment of employees' knowledge. We collected the most pressing questions, prepared expert comments, and present a Q&A selection on how to correctly and effectively organize work on training and unscheduled knowledge assessments of occupational safety requirements.
Where should the unscheduled knowledge assessment be taken?
Follow the general rules for conducting knowledge assessments set out in Section III of the Procedure for Training on Occupational Safety and Assessing Employees' Knowledge of Occupational Safety Requirements, approved by the Decree of the Ministry of Labor of Russia and the Ministry of Education of Russia dated 13.01.2003 No. 1/29 (hereinafter – Procedure No. 1/29).
Special categories of managers and specialists listed in clause 3.3 of Procedure No. 1/29 undergo unscheduled knowledge assessments in accredited training organizations. This includes organization heads, heads and specialists of the occupational safety service, members of the organization's internal commission for assessing knowledge of occupational safety requirements, etc.
All other employees may undergo the unscheduled knowledge assessment in the employer's own commission (if one exists) — this is the employer's right. If the organization does not have an internal commission for assessing knowledge, all employees are sent to a training organization to take the assessment.
Do employees need to be trained before an unscheduled knowledge assessment?
In accordance with clause 3.9 of Procedure No. 1/29, training organizations may only assess the knowledge of those employees who have undergone occupational safety training with them. Therefore, employees must first complete occupational safety training and only then undergo the knowledge assessment.
Is it required to conduct training and knowledge assessment on all 38 occupational safety rules that came into force?
Before organizing training and a knowledge assessment, it is necessary to determine which occupational safety rules apply to the specific employee's activities. Training and the unscheduled assessment should be carried out only for those rules that relate to the employee's job functions.
Must the knowledge assessment be documented separately for each occupational safety rule?
Regardless of how training and the assessment process are organized, the employee should be issued only one certificate and one assessment protocol. This means that at the time of issuing the certificate the employee must have been assessed simultaneously on all occupational safety rules that affect their job functions.
Is it justified that training centers multiply the training cost by the number of occupational safety rules covered by the assessment?
The Model Training Program on Occupational Safety for Organization Employees (approved by the Ministry of Labor of Russia on 17.05.2004) includes a section "Special issues of ensuring occupational safety requirements and the safety of production activities" that takes into account production specifics and types of work. Accordingly, if training is conducted using an updated occupational safety course in the classic format, that will be sufficient for conducting the unscheduled knowledge assessment. At the same time, the cost of training should be standard and should not depend on the number of occupational safety rules covered by the training and assessment.
Within what timeframe must an unscheduled knowledge assessment be conducted?
Many believe that the unscheduled knowledge assessment must be conducted within one month from the entry into force of the new regulatory legal acts. In fact, Procedure No. 1/29 does not contain requirements for the timing of unscheduled knowledge assessments. The one-month period is established for training and assessment of managers and specialists only upon hiring (clause 2.3.1 of Procedure No. 1/29). Nonetheless, you should not postpone training and the unscheduled assessment for too long — state labor inspectors monitor compliance with the requirements of the new occupational safety rules, including training issues.
Is it necessary to hold an unscheduled assessment if the scheduled assessment is already due?
No. It is sufficient to undergo training and the scheduled knowledge assessment according to the educational program updated to reflect the new requirements.
What should change in the training program in connection with changes in regulatory legal acts?
The "regulatory guillotine" affected not only the occupational safety rules. Sanitary legislation documents and regulatory acts on industrial and fire safety have also changed. All these changes should be reflected in the updated occupational safety training program (section 3 "Special issues of ensuring occupational safety requirements and the safety of production activities").
What should you request from the training center when signing a contract?
Among general documents — the license for educational activities and the notification from the Ministry of Labor of Russia about inclusion in the register of accredited organizations. Be sure to request the educational program and review it — this will show whether the training content has been updated. We also recommend requesting documents confirming that the members of the training organization's commission have undergone training and the unscheduled knowledge assessment in occupational safety. If at least one of the listed documents is missing, you risk receiving invalid certificates and assessment protocols.
Is it permissible to issue a new occupational safety certificate?
The right to fill in the "right" side of the certificate was granted to employers to reduce costs for purchasing new "cards". If you have the ability to issue new certificates, this is not a violation. At the same time, the assessment protocol must indicate that an unscheduled knowledge assessment was conducted.
What official clarifications exist from government authorities regarding the unscheduled knowledge assessment?
At the moment there are two official letters — from the Russian Ministry of Labor and from Rostrud.
Do office workers need training?
Definitely yes. And again it's not only about the updated occupational safety rules, most of which do not apply to office workers. Documents on fire safety, electrical safety, and requirements for working with personal computers have changed. All this directly concerns office work. Therefore, they need to undergo training and the unscheduled knowledge assessment.