A conference was held in connection with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work
April 28 – In connection with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection held a video conference.
Minister of Labor and Social Protection Sahil Babayev, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Trade Unions Confederation, MP Sattar Mohbaliyev, President of the Azerbaijan Entrepreneurs’ Confederation (ASK) Mammad Musayev, Chairman of the Medical Territorial Divisions Management Union Ramil Bayramli, World Health Organization Representative in Azerbaijan, Head of the Permanent Representation of the International Finance Corporation in our country Aliya Azimova, as well as representatives of other institutions, insurance companies and non-governmental organizations attended the event.
Speaking at the conference, S.Babayev stressed that President Ilham Aliyev’s special care for the social sphere and the human factor at the center of his policy also allowed for a purposeful state policy to create durable and safe working conditions for workers. In former times, Azerbaijan has adopted ILO Conventions on labor protection. The national legal framework in this area is constantly being improved on the basis of progressive international norms. Many articles of the Labor Management of our country encompasses the norms, rules and principles of labor protection.
Noting that the World Labor Day has been celebrated in the world every year since 2003 at the initiative of the ILO, more than 100 countries, including Azerbaijan, have joined the event, Babayev said that the aim is to increase public attention to accidents at work and the growing number of occupational diseases. The motto of the ILO for 2021 is the World Day for Safety and Health at Work “Preventing and preparing for the crisis – investing in sustainable health and safety systems”. The motto is not fortuitous and is aimed at saving the world from the COVID-19 pandemic that has engulfed the world and destroyed people as well as the damage it has caused to the labor sector.
The Minister noted the social support package consisting of 12 measures in 4 areas to endorse employment and social welfare, implemented in our country through the pandemic in accordance with the instructions of President Ilham Aliyev. He has informed that 1.7 million employees in the public and private sectors have been safeguarded from jobs and wages. The e-system was constantly monitored to prevent unjustified dismissals, layoffs and salary retention.
Babayev said that overall result proves that the number of labor contracts in the private sector did not decrease as of January 1, 2021, but increased by 24% (or 154,000) compared to the beginning of 2020. In addition, the number of paid public jobs has reached 90,000, the scope of the self-employment program has been expanded, and in 2020, 12,245 people will be covered by this program.
Noting the support measures in other rules, the Minister said that labor protection is also a priority. In 2020, the Technical Committee for Occupational Safety Standardization (AZSTAND / TK-21) was established to develop national standards that meet international requirements in the field of labor and profession, conduct expertise, and update existing standards. The Committee has commenced to develop 196 national standards defining the requirements of the management system for occupational health and safety on the basis of the international standard for occupational safety ISO 45001, the first standard of which has already been developed and approved.
S.Babayev emphasized that the work on the development of legislation in the field of labor protection is constantly continued, new regulations are being adopted. Eleven of the recent amendments to the Labor Code relate to occupational safety and health. Integration between the Compulsory Insurance Bureau’s electronic information system on compulsory accident insurance and the Ministry’s “Employment Contract Notices” subsystem (ƏMBAS) was also ensured. Supervision over this type of insurance through the electronic system has been strengthened. The administration of the Center for Occupational Safety continues, in this regard, the draft normative legal act is on the stage of agreement.
The Minister stressed that measures in the field of labor protection will be continued in the coming period.
At the conference, Fuad Heydarov, Chief of the State Labor Inspection Service under the Ministry, performed with the presentation on the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, construction work in the field of labor protection, and innovations in this context.
President of the Azerbaijan Entrepreneurs Confederation M.Musayev said in his speech that occupational safety is one of the components of decent work. It is the safety and decent working conditions that extend the productivity of the employee. This gives rise to the further improvement of the production process, resulting in increased incomes of entrepreneurs. One of the substantive areas of cooperation between the Azerbaijan Entrepreneurs Confederation and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population and the Confederation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan is the issue of occupational safety.
In case of taking a glance at the statistics, as of January 1, 2021, the number of economically active population in Azerbaijan is 5 million 252 thousand people, and the number of employed population is 4 million 876 thousand people.
Business entities play the most instrumental role in providing labor and employment in the country. The number of business entities in the country is constantly growing. Thus, from April 1, 2021, more than 141,000 legal entities and more than 1 million individual entrepreneurs operates within the country.
As it can be seen that, the lion’s share of the labor market belongs to the private sector, and occupational safety is one of the significant direction of public-private partnership.
The Confederation, as a partner of the General Collective Agreement, attaches great importance to social dialogue and actively participates in the regulation of labor relations in the country in cooperation with relevant government agencies and trade union.
Then the speeches of H.Harmanchi, A.Azimova and others were heard and presentations were made.The work carried out in the field of labor protection in the field of social partnership and the forthcoming tasks in this field were discussed.
It should be noted that on April 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population awarded a number of companies with letters of appreciation for compliance with labor protection standards, norms and rules.
Thus, as a result of the analysis carried out through the e-system of the Ministry, in areas with high-risk jobs (construction, mining, manufacturing, etc.), with a huge number of employees, compliance with labor protection standards, norms and rules, and in the last 5 years, the companies that did not encounter with any accidents resulting in injuries or deaths of employees were selected (AS Texnoservis LLC, PASHA Construction LLC, Agro Diary LLC, AzerGold CJSC, Tabaterra CJSC, AZ-GRANATA LLC, Branch of Gulf Drilling Supply FZE in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Branch of Hallyburton Eurasia Limited) and awarded with a Certificate of Appreciation.