12 October 2026, 15:11
On 12 October 2026, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the second reading and as a whole the Law of Ukraine "On Safety and Health of Workers at Work" (No. 10147).
The purpose of the Law is to shift the object of state policy: from the current "occupational safety" or "labour protection" to the European "worker safety".
The main objective of the Law is to eliminate or minimize risks to the life and health of workers at work. The draft act also proposes introducing key terms and concepts in the field of occupational safety and health into legislation, in particular, the concepts of an incident, occupational risk, occupational risk assessment, workplace, harmful and hazardous occupational factors, audit of the occupational safety and health management system, workers' representatives, and others.
It should be recalled that this Law is "EU integration" legislation and provides for the introduction in Ukraine of a new occupational risk prevention system based on the principles of risk assessment, control, and management established by Council Directive 89/391/EEC.
The implementation of Council Directive 89/391/EEC provided for by the law is a logical and consistent continuation of the chosen course toward aligning Ukrainian legislation with EU law, and provides, in particular, for:
enhancing the level of protection for the life and health of workers at work;
simplifying legislation in the field of occupational safety and health, reducing the administrative and regulatory burden on employers;
introducing mechanisms to improve workers' safety conditions along with corresponding economic incentives;
increasing the accountability of employers for creating proper working conditions and a safe working environment;
strengthening fair competition, expanding access for Ukrainian enterprises to the international market, and increasing their competitiveness in this market;
gradually implementing European Union legal norms into national legislation.