HEALTH AND SAFETY AT THE 2018 WORLD CUP
FOLLOWING COMPLETION OF THE RUSSIAN WORLD CUP STADIUMS AND SUPPORTING INFRASTRUCTURE, WE ASK “HOW IS CONSTRUCTION HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATED IN RUSSIA?”
Following allegations of many construction fatalities in Russia, we wondered how health and safety regulations compare with the UK. An hour spent on the internet reveals that far from being an unregulated environment, the Russian Federation has thousands of applicable pieces of law. Some of the laws date back to the USSR days (pre 1991) but are still in effect. However, there is an ongoing program of legal reform and consolidation of laws and regulations.
It appears that there are four main layers of legislation:
- The Constitution of the Russian Federation
- Federal Laws, subsequent amendments, Decrees and Executive Orders
- Laws of the autonomous member Republics and Territories
- Municipal or Local regulations
To host the 2018 World Cup (Russia v Saudi Arabia kicks off on Thursday 14th June at 4.00pm UK time on ITV1), Russia has built or refurbished ten stadiums and built infrastructure necessary to accommodate the thousands of players, support staff, families, media and hundreds of thousands of fans. But according to Human Rights Watch, at least 17 workers have died during construction so what is the legal framework in the Russian Federation?
Most health and safety regulation is at federal level with the primary, overarching labour legislation being contained in the latest version of the Labour Code (dates back to 1918). The Labour Code was revised in 2001 and then supplemented by laws such as The Fundamentals of Health and Safety Act (1999) which would be the loose equivalent of the UK Health & Safety at Work Act (1974).
Overlain with health and safety are welfare standards which have developed along detail codes of workers rights as well as for health and safety purposes. An example of a law that is still in effect is the provision of free milk for workers in certain hazardous industries which had its origins in a belief that milk could mitigate the effects of toxic substances but is probably retained as an employment benefit.
Federal regulations relating to health and safety and quality of construction including sanitation, environmental and fire-prevention rules are set down in Federal law No. 384-FZ dated 30 December 2009 and various codes on the safety of buildings and constructions.
According to staylegal.net, there are in excess of 3000 items of Russian legislation concerning occupational health and safety – so hardly ‘unregulated’. The key issue appears to be interpreting the many overlapping areas and, as in the UK, policing implementation.
In the UK, BSA commonly refers to around 37 Acts and Regulations regarding construction standards and occupational health and of course, refer to guidance and codes of best practice as well. This number feels enough for clients to need us as experts but not too many for us as a team, to be expert in!
Of more immediate interest, if you are going to Russia, then please be aware of the Foreign Office Travel Advice including specific World Cup advice ‘Be on the Ball’
It is hoped that our home team stay in the competition long enough for you to read this article and we wish England (and whoever you support) all the best! If you are staying at home and want to know what matches are on when and what TV channel – the Telegraph has provided a useful listing.