The Committee for Labor, Employment and Social Protection of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee reminded about safety measures during the subbotnik

To ensure the safety of citizens during the community cleanup event, state administration bodies must ensure that subordinate organizations (located within their jurisdiction) comply with the following conditions.

If an employee works at their usual workplace during the community cleanup event, the employer is obliged to fully ensure healthy and safe working conditions by fulfilling their duties stipulated by the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus and other regulatory legal acts, including technical regulatory legal acts on labor protection.

If an employee, during the community cleanup event, works not at their usual workplace but participates in the improvement and proper maintenance of populated areas, memorial complexes, places of military glory, and burial sites of soldiers and partisans of the Great Patriotic War, or in the preparation of children's health resorts for the summer season, the following requirements must be met.

An mandatory condition for admitting employees to work is conducting a targeted labor protection briefing with them for the type of work to be performed. When performing work on the improvement of populated areas, such a targeted briefing is conducted by the direct supervisor of the employer's work. When performing work on the territory of another organization, it is conducted by the direct supervisor of the work or a specialist of the organization on whose territory the work will be carried out.

In accordance with the general safety requirements for performing work, the following should be done:

·      do not allow employees to perform work if they are in a state of illness that prevents them from performing the work (providing services). Since a medical examination is not possible in this situation, we consider it advisable to conduct an oral survey of employees about their health status to establish such facts;

·      do not allow employees who do not have appropriate training to perform work,

related to work with increased hazard in accordance with the Standard List of Works with Increased Hazard (Appendix 1 to the Instruction on the Procedure for Training, Internships, Briefings and Knowledge Testing of Employees on Labor Protection, approved by the Resolution of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of November 28, 2008 No. 175).

·       Do not allow employees who are not provided with personal protective equipment in accordance with the List of Personal Protective Equipment Directly Ensuring Labor Safety, approved by the Resolution of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of October 15, 2010 No. 145, to perform work. Participants in the community work day must be provided with gloves or mittens, when working on the roadway – with reflective vests, and when working on a construction site – with protective helmets;

·       Do not allow the involvement of women in heavy work and work with harmful and (or) hazardous working conditions (List of Heavy Work and Work with Harmful and (or) Hazardous Working Conditions, which Prohibits the Involvement of Women in Labor, approved by the Resolution of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of June 12, 2014 No. 35);

·       Ensure compliance with the norms for lifting and moving heavy loads manually by women participating in the community work day (Maximum norms for lifting and moving heavy loads manually by women are approved by the Resolution of the Ministry of Health of October 13, 2010 No. 133).

When performing work on landscaping and bringing populated areas into proper condition, the employer is obliged to provide employees with tools and personal protective equipment, and when performing work on the territory of another organization – employees are provided with personal protective equipment and tools by agreement between the employer and the host party.

If during the community work day, joint work is carried out by participants in the community work day and equipment (tractors, excavators, and other machinery and mechanisms), then measures must be taken to exclude the possibility of equipment running over workers or injury by moving parts.

Fires are not permitted, nor is the burning of household waste, fallen leaves, tree branches, and garbage.

It is forbidden to consume alcohol, drugs, or toxic substances, to be at the workplace or on the institution's premises while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or toxic substances, and to smoke in unauthorized areas.

It is forbidden to leave the department without notifying your direct supervisor.