In 2015 every fifth citizen of Kazakhstan was working in harmful and hazardous conditions

Almaty. April 27. Silkroadnews – Last year out of 1.8 million employees of Kazakhstani enterprises 367 thousand people were working in harmful and hazardous conditions, Kazakhstan’s minister of health and social development Tamara Duysenova reported, KazTAG informs.

“The official statistics show out of 1.8 million enterprises employees surveyed in 2015, 367 000 or about every fifth citizen worked under harmful and dangerous working conditions. Last year more than 675 thousand people received compensation for working in harmful conditions in the form of extra-payments, additional leave and other forms of compensation,” she said at the opening ceremony for exhibition on labor protection and industrial safety “KIOSH 2016” on Wednesday.

The minister also added, in 2015 employers’ costs for such compensations made around 103 billion tenge, which is 7% higher compared to 2014.

She reminded that as of January 1, 2016, a new labor code came into force to provide tightening of liability for violation of labor laws and encourage employers to ensure safe working conditions. In particular, it introduces a voluntary employers’ declaration on compliance with labor conditions and standards set and reduce the number of state inspections for such companies.

As chairman of the labor, social protection and migration committee under the ministry of health and social development Akmadi Sarbasov reported, about 70% of industrial accidents happen due to the fault of the employer. In terms of number of accidents, the industrialized regions of the country rank the first: East Kazakhstan region, Karaganda, Kostanay and Almaty regions.