Changes in the procedure for conducting SOUT from September 1, 2021

From 01/01/2020, the rules for conducting a special assessment of working conditions (SOUT) are changing. New responsibilities will appear for all its participants: organizations conducting assessments, employers and even labor inspectors. In our material you will find ready-made instructions for conducting a special assessment, which already takes into account legislative innovations. And also refresh your knowledge in this area, learn about the mistakes that employers make when conducting special assessments and their consequences. We will also tell you about automatic fines for special assessments - very soon they will become a reality.

Why is a special assessment needed and who is required to conduct it?

The state strives to ensure citizens the right to normal working conditions and guarantee compensation for harm caused to their health by harmful and dangerous factors present in their workplaces. One way to solve this problem is a set of procedures called a special assessment of working conditions (SOUT).

Labor legislation places the main burden of responsibilities in connection with conducting a special assessment on employers ─ they must, in due time, organize a survey of workplaces to identify dangerous and harmful production factors, and based on the results of such a survey, provide employees with additional guarantees and benefits.

How the legislation on SOUT has changed until 2021

At first, special assessment activities were called “Workplace Certification”, then they were renamed SOUT (special assessment of working conditions). Since 2014, the main nuances of this procedure are regulated by the Law of December 28, 2013 No. 426-FZ “On the special assessment of working conditions.”

Since then, this law has been amended 5 times: by the laws of June 23, 2014 No. 160-FZ, of July 13, 2015 No. 216-FZ, of May 1, 2016 No. 136-FZ, of July 19, 2018 No. 208-FZ and of December 27, 2018 No. 553-FZ.

Despite the fact that the procedure for conducting special assessments has already been studied and has been used in practice for several years, the legislation on special assessment continues to be adjusted. The purpose of the amendments is to improve the quality of special assessments in order to ensure guarantees and rights of workers.

Now another package of amendments to Law No. 426-FZ is approaching ─ draft No. 769142-7 is already in the State Duma. The start of application of the new version of the law is scheduled for January 2021.

What is the time frame for conducting a special assessment of working conditions?

The timing of a special assessment of working conditions depends on:

√ when will it be organized; √ what happened in these RMs before; √ what TS are on them now.

1. Companies with certified RM, the results for which are still valid, are allowed to organize an SOUT for the first time after the end of the period specified in the documents. However, if you wish, you do not have to wait for this date: you can organize a special assessment earlier.

2. 426 Federal Law “On Special Assessment of Working Conditions” requires that the SOUT procedure be repeated every 5 years.

3. In the case where the labor standards in the Republic of Moldova turn out to be acceptable, a declaration is submitted to the State Labor Inspectorate, which states that the labor standards comply with state labor protection requirements. In the classic case, it is valid for 5 years. If during this period everything in the management plan for the Republic of Moldova remains the same, no NA or PP has occurred, then the declaration is extended for a similar period.

4. Law 426 Federal Law requires a special assessment of working conditions to be organized unscheduled if:

• NS, PP are recorded (SOUT is carried out for the “spent” RM); • newly created RMs began to be operated; • the technical process has changed, re-equipment has been carried out, there have been other changes that change the positioning and characteristics of unfavorable factors.

If the above events occur within 180 days from the moment they were recorded, you need to have time to organize a special assessment of working conditions (SOUT). When changing circumstances require an unscheduled special assessment, the results of the previous one are canceled ahead of schedule.

What's new in the SOUT procedure since 2021

Globally, legislators did not rewrite Law No. 426-FZ. But starting from 2021, there will be a number of significant adjustments to the procedure for conducting SOUT.

The changes affected not the special assessment procedure itself, but the preparatory stages for it and the final procedures, as well as a number of other provisions of Law No. 426-FZ.

If we list these amendments very briefly, they will fit into a few lines:

• the organization conducting the special assessment is responsible for registering the employer before the start of the special assessment in the FSIS SOUT system and then notifying him of the special identification number assigned by the system ─ without this number, the SOUT report will be invalid;
• the start of validity of the SOUT results will shift ─ it will be possible to use the results of the special assessment only after information about it appears in the FSIS SOUT (federal information system for recording the results of the special assessment). Now this moment is tied to the date of approval of the report.

Important clarification! New edition of Part 4 of Art. 8 of Law No. 426-FZ provides that the period of the special assessment will continue to be calculated from the date of approval of the report regarding the results of the special assessment, containing information that constitutes a state or other secret protected by law.

But that's not all the changes. In the new edition of Law No. 426-FZ, a number of other aspects will be corrected and added regarding the additional responsibilities of appraiser organizations, the timing of approval of the SOUT report, the use of UKEP when sending a copy of the approved report, etc. We will talk about them further.

What does the procedure for carrying out SOUT look like starting from 2021?

A special assessment is still required once every 5 years. The stages of its implementation are presented in the diagram:

And, of course, let’s not forget about filing a declaration - no one has canceled this obligation of the employer. Let us recall that such a declaration is submitted in relation to workplaces with optimal (class 1) or acceptable (class 2) working conditions (Article 11 of Law No. 426-FZ). Its form and procedure for submission are approved by Order of the Ministry of Labor dated 02/07/2014 No. 80n.

The declaration must be submitted within 30 working days from the date of approval of the special assessment report (Part 1, Article 11 of Law No. 426-FZ, paragraphs 3, 5 of Appendix No. 2 to Order of the Ministry of Labor No. 80n). The declaration can be submitted remotely on the Rostrud website (clarifications of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation dated January 16, 2019).

Procedure for conducting SOUT in 2021

The special assessment is organized at the expense of the employer with the involvement of a specialized organization, which must have:

• at least 5 experts on staff with appropriate certificates;
• accredited laboratory.

The frequency of the planned SOUT in 2021 has not changed - once every 5 years.

Main stages of special assessment:

• Conclusion of an agreement between the employer and the appraisal organization.
• Creation by the employer of a commission that determines the jobs being evaluated.
• Identification of potentially dangerous or harmful indicators by the expert and the commission.
• Submission by the employer to Rosrud of a declaration for places that do not pose a danger and do not cause harm to employees. As before, the SOUT declaration in 2021 is valid for 5 years.
• Study of harmful and dangerous indicators, determination by an expert of classes of working conditions.
• Experts prepare results in the form of a report, transfer information to the Federal State Information System (FSIS).

What will the employer additionally receive from the appraiser company starting from 2021?

Starting from 2021, the appraiser company will be obliged to inform the employer about the fact of sending information about the special assessment carried out at his enterprise to the FSIS SOUT. This is given 3 working days from the moment such information is sent (Part 3 of Article 18 of Law No. 426-FZ).

This obligation will be considered properly fulfilled only if the employer receives a notification from the appraiser company in one of the forms specified in the law:

• in the form of a paper notice delivered by registered mail with return receipt requested;
• in the form of an electronic document signed by UKEP.

Note that the appraiser company, according to the new version of the law, is given a number of responsibilities with clearly defined deadlines for their implementation:

• She is given 10 working days from the date of approval of the report to transfer information about the results of the special assessment to FSIS SOUT. The law requires this to be done in the form of an electronic document signed by the UKEP (Part 3 of Article 18 of Law No. 426-FZ).
• Within 10 days, she must inform Rostrud about changes in the composition of qualified experts and a reduction in the scope of accreditation of the testing laboratory (Article 19 of the new edition of Law No. 426-FZ).

Innovations 2021: January

I. The rights and obligations of the employer and employees have been expanded

The employer is given the right to demand that the organization conducting the special assessment work confirm the entry of information about the results of the special assessment work into the FSIS.

At the same time, the employer is additionally entrusted with the responsibility to consider the comments and objections of employees regarding the results of the special labor assessment system and make a decision on conducting an unscheduled special labor management system, if necessary.

In turn, employees have the right to submit written comments and objections regarding the results of the special assessment and assessment carried out at their workplaces.

Comments and objections may be sent to:

• To the employer.
• Organization conducting SOUT.
• To the elected body of the primary trade union organization or other representative body of workers (if any).

II. New responsibilities of the organization conducting SOUT

1. The organization conducting SOUT, before the start of work on carrying out SOUT, but no later than 5 working days from the date of concluding a civil agreement with the employer on carrying out SOUT, is obliged to:

1) transfer to FSIS a number of information regarding the employer, including:

• full name of the employer;
• taxpayer identification number (TIN) of the employer;
• code of the reason for registration with the tax authority (KPP) of the employer;

2) receive an identification number that is assigned by FSIS automatically;

3) provide the identification number to the employer before the start of the SOUT.

2. The organization conducting SOUT must use approved and certified measurement techniques (methods) intended for performing direct measurements, and corresponding measuring instruments of an approved type that have been verified in the manner established by the legislation of the Russian Federation on ensuring the uniformity of measurements.

Additionally, the Law stipulates that measurement techniques (methods) and corresponding measuring instruments must allow research (testing) and measurements of VOPF levels in all ranges established by the Methodology for Conducting Special Monitoring Equipment.

3. An organization admitted to carry out special labor assessment activities is obliged to transfer a number of information to the Russian Ministry of Labor, including:

1) information about harmful and (or) dangerous factors of the production environment and labor process excluded from the scope of accreditation, specified in paragraphs 1-11 and 15-23 of part 3 of Article 13 of Law N 426-FZ - in the event of a reduction in the scope of accreditation of the testing laboratory ( center), which is a structural unit of the organization.

These requirements must be met until December 31, 2021 inclusive.

2) data on changes in the composition of the organization’s experts who have an expert certificate for the right to perform work according to SOUT.

As provided by the Law, information must be transmitted within 10 working days from the date of occurrence of the above cases and can be provided:

• on paper by registered mail with return receipt requested;
• in the form of an electronic document signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature.

In this case, copies of supporting documents must also be sent.

The received data must be analyzed by the Russian Ministry of Labor within 20 working days from the date of their registration.

If facts of non-compliance with the established requirements are revealed, the activities of the organization conducting the SOUT will be suspended until copies of documents confirming the elimination of the identified violations are submitted to the Russian Ministry of Labor.

III. The rules for applying the results of the SOUT have been clarified

The results of the SOUT can only be used if information about them is entered into the FSIS in the prescribed manner.

At the same time, the results of the special assessment process, containing information constituting a state or other secret protected by law, can still be used from the date of approval of the report on the conduct of the special assessment process.

IV. The frequency of conducting SOUT has been changed

According to the general rule, an SAW in the workplace should be carried out at least once every 5 years, but now the specified period should be calculated from the day the information about the results of the SAW is entered into the FSIS.

At the same time, with regard to the results of the special assessment work, containing information constituting a state or other secret protected by law, the period continues to be calculated from the date of approval of the report on the conduct of the special assessment work.

V. The procedure for forming a commission for conducting special assessment work at micro-enterprises has been clarified

If employers - small businesses (including employers - individual entrepreneurs) who are classified as micro-enterprises are unable to form a commission, its powers can be exercised by:

• employer - individual entrepreneur (personally);
• Head of the organization;
• another employee authorized by the employer.

VI. Identification of potential VOFFs

When carrying out identification of potential VOPFs at workplaces, the following should be additionally taken into account:

• results obtained during the implementation of production control over working conditions organized at workplaces (if any);
• results obtained during the implementation of federal state sanitary and epidemiological surveillance.

VII. Validity period of the declaration of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory labor protection requirements

The validity period of the declaration of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory requirements for labor protection remains the same - 5 years, but now it will be calculated from the day the information about the results of the special labor safety assessment is entered into the FSIS.

At the same time, with regard to the results of the special assessment work, containing information constituting a state or other secret protected by law, the period will continue to count from the date of approval of the report on the conduct of the special assessment work.

VIII. The list of physical factors subject to research (testing) and measurement has been clarified

The physical factors to be studied (tested) and measured include thermal radiation instead of infrared radiation.

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Accordingly, testing laboratories (centers) must now conduct research (tests) and measure the intensity and exposure dose of thermal radiation.

IX. New requirements for the report on the implementation of special assessment and assessment work

1. The report on the implementation of the special assessment system (hereinafter referred to as the Report) must additionally reflect the written comments and objections of employees regarding the results of the special assessment work carried out at their workplaces.

2. The report must contain an identification number assigned by FSIS automatically.

3. The report must be signed by all members of the commission for conducting the special work assessment and approved by the chairman of the commission no later than 30 calendar days from the date of its sending to the employer by the organization conducting the special work test.

4. When the employer sends a copy of the approved Report in the form of an electronic document to the organization conducting the SOUT, it must be signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature.

X. Grounds for conducting an unscheduled SOUT

The law clarifies that motivated proposals from elected bodies of primary trade union organizations or another representative body of workers to conduct an unscheduled special labor assessment may be prepared on the basis of comments and objections from workers regarding the results of the special labor assessment carried out at their workplaces, submitted in writing to the elected body of the primary trade union organization or other representative body of workers.

XI. Information transmitted to FSIS

1. The law provides that in FSIS:

• in relation to the employer, among other things, the reason code for registration with the tax authority (KPP) must be provided;
• in relation to an employee - an individual workplace number, which, in the event of an unscheduled and (or) repeated SOUT, must completely coincide with that originally specified for a given workplace.

2. Information regarding the employer, workplace and organization that carried out the special assessment must be transferred to FSIS by the organization conducting the special assessment within 10 working days from the date of approval of the Report in the form of an electronic document signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature.

In addition, within 3 working days from the date of entering the specified information into the FSIS, the organization that carried out the special work assessment is obliged to notify the employer about this in any of the provided ways:

• on paper by registered mail with return receipt requested;
• in the form of an electronic document signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature.

3. The law provides that the information contained in the FSIS can be used by tax authorities.

The procedure for assigning a SOUT identification number must be determined by the Russian Ministry of Labor.

XII. Quality assessment of SOUT

The following are indicated as additional grounds for examining the quality of SOUT:

• submissions from territorial bodies of Rostrud, issued in connection with the implementation of measures of state control (supervision) carried out on the basis of statements from executive authorities;
• applications submitted by executive authorities directly to the body authorized to conduct an examination of the quality of the labor protection system - the executive authority of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation in the field of labor protection;
• representations of the federal executive body exercising the functions of organizing and implementing federal state sanitary and epidemiological supervision, in connection with the implementation of measures for state control (supervision) over compliance with the requirements of legislation in the field of ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population.

In addition, it was established that the results of the examination of the quality of the quality control system, consideration of disagreements on the issues of conducting the examination and the results of its implementation:

• are binding on all participants of the SOUT, including parties having disagreements;
• subject to transfer to FSIS.

The responsibility for transmitting the results of the examination of the quality of the quality control system rests with the body authorized to conduct the examination.

In turn, the responsibility for transmitting the results of consideration of disagreements on the issues of conducting an examination of the quality of SOUT and the results of its implementation rests with the Russian Ministry of Labor.

When is a repeat special assessment needed, and when is an examination needed?

The results of the special assessment may not suit the employer or employees. To check the quality of the conducted SOUT, you can conduct a state examination for a specific workplace. The procedure for conducting the examination of SOUT was approved by Order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated August 12, 2014 No. 549n.

It’s another matter if, during the special assessment, there were violations of the methodology for its implementation or the requirements of the law and these violations were identified by inspectors during inspections. In this case, it is possible that the special assessment will have to be carried out again. A repeated special assessment is carried out based on the order of the state labor inspector.

In the new edition of Part 6 of Art. 24 of Law No. 426-FZ it is noted that the results of the examination of the quality of SOUT, consideration of disagreements on the issues of conducting a quality examination and the results of its implementation also need to be transferred to the FSIS SOUT. The responsibility for transferring this information to the information system is assigned to the body authorized to conduct the examination - the executive body of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation on labor protection issues at the location of the employer who conducted the special assessment (clause 1 of Article 24 of Law No. 426-FZ).

Change in legislation - SOUT

In connection with the adoption of Federal Law No. 136-FZ of May 1, 2021 “On Amendments to Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Individual (Personalized) Accounting in the Compulsory Pension Insurance System” and the Federal Law “On Special Assessment of Working Conditions” (Meeting legislation of the Russian Federation, 2016, N 18, art. 2512)

I order:

Introduce changes to the regulatory legal acts of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation in accordance with the appendix.

Minister M.A. Topilin

Registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on February 6, 2021, registration N 45539

Appendix to the order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation dated November 14, 2021 N 642n

Changes made to the regulatory legal acts of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation in connection with the adoption of Federal Law No. 136-FZ of May 1, 2021 “On Amendments to Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Individual (Personified) Accounting in the Compulsory Pension System” Insurance" and the Federal Law "On Special Assessment of Working Conditions"

In the order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation dated January 24, 2014 N 33n “On approval of the Methodology for conducting a special assessment of working conditions, the Classifier of harmful and (or) hazardous production factors, the report form for a special assessment of working conditions and instructions for filling it out "(registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on March 21, 2014, registration N 31689) as amended by orders of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation dated January 20, 2015 N 24n (registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on February 9, 2015, registration N 35927) and dated September 7, 2015 N 602n (registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on November 19, 2015, registration N 39785):

a) in Appendix No. 1 to the order:

add clause 1.1 with the following content:

"1.1. In the case of a special assessment of working conditions in relation to the working conditions of employees admitted to information classified as state or other secrets protected by law, the implementation of the procedures provided for in paragraph 1 of this Methodology is carried out taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on state and other secrets protected by law.”;

paragraph 4 shall be supplemented with paragraph nine as follows:

“worker proposals for identifying potentially harmful and (or) dangerous production factors at their workplaces (if such proposals exist)”;

in paragraph 11:

in paragraph two of subclause 3, the words “subject to research (testing) and measurement of harmful and (or) dangerous factors” should be replaced with the words “harmful and (or) hazardous production factors subject to research (testing) and measurement”;

add the following paragraphs:

“In order to determine the list of harmful and (or) dangerous production factors subject to research (testing) and measurements, at the workplaces specified in subparagraphs one through three of this paragraph, the expert may:

study of documents characterizing the technological process, production equipment, materials and raw materials used at the workplace, as well as regulating the duties of the employee employed at the workplace;

workplace inspection;

familiarization with the work actually performed by the employee at the workplace;

other measures provided for by the identification procedure in accordance with this Methodology.”;

in paragraph 13:

the first paragraph after the words “experts and” is supplemented with the word “(or)”;

add the following paragraph:

“Methods (methods) for measuring harmful and (or) dangerous factors, the composition of experts and other workers conducting research (tests) and measuring harmful and (or) dangerous factors are determined independently by the organization conducting a special assessment of working conditions.”;

in paragraph 14:

in paragraph one, the words “research (tests) and” and “methods of research (tests) and” should be deleted;

add after the first paragraph the following paragraph:

“When carrying out measurements of harmful and (or) dangerous factors until December 31, 2021, it is allowed to use techniques (methods) for measuring harmful and (or) dangerous factors approved for use in the manner established before the Federal Law of June 26, 2008 came into force . N 102-FZ “On ensuring the uniformity of measurements” (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2008, N 26, Art. 3021; ​​2011, N 30, Art. 4590; N 49, Art. 7025; 2012, N 31, Art. 4322 ; 2013, N 49, Art. 6339; 2014, N 26, Art. 3366; N 30, Art. 4255; 2015, N 29, Art. 4359), including those approved by the federal executive body performing the functions of providing state services, management of state property in the field of technical regulation and ensuring the uniformity of measurements, and the federal executive body exercising the functions of developing and approving state sanitary and epidemiological rules and hygienic standards, without their certification.”;

in paragraph two, delete the words “research (tests) and”;

in paragraph 16:

subparagraph 10 should be stated as follows:

“10) the names of the applied techniques (methods) for measuring harmful and (or) dangerous factors, details of the regulatory legal acts that approved them (type of regulatory legal act, name of the body that issued it, name, date and number);”;

add the following paragraph:

“In relation to the workplace, the working conditions at which, based on the results of research (tests) and measurements of harmful and (or) dangerous production factors, are recognized as optimal or acceptable, with the exception of the workplaces specified in paragraph 11 of this Methodology, the employer submits a declaration of compliance of working conditions with the state regulatory requirements for labor protection in the manner established by the Federal Law of December 28, 2013 N 426-FZ “On special assessment of working conditions” (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2013, N 52, Art. 6991; 2014, N 26, Art. 3366 ; 2015, N 29, Art. 4342; 2021, N 18, Art. 2512)";

paragraph 95 shall be supplemented with the following paragraph:

“The employer, within three working days from the date of approval of the report, is obliged to notify the organization that conducted the special assessment of working conditions, in any available way that ensures the possibility of confirming the fact of such notification, and also send to it a copy of the approved report by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt or in the form of an electronic document signed with a qualified electronic signature. If there is information in the report that constitutes a state or other secret protected by law, a copy of the said report is sent taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on state and other secrets protected by law.”;

b) in Appendix No. 3 to the order, Section IV is declared invalid;

c) in Appendix No. 4 to the order:

paragraph twenty-four of paragraph 3 after the words “and certified by the seal of the organization” should be supplemented with the words “(if any)”;

Clause 6 is declared invalid.

In the order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation dated February 7, 2014 N 80n “On the form and procedure for filing a declaration of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory requirements for labor protection, the Procedure for forming and maintaining a register of declarations of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory requirements for labor protection” (registered Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation May 22, 2014, registration N 32387):

a) add a new paragraph 3 with the following content:

"3. In relation to workplaces, the working conditions for which on the day of entry into force of the Federal Law of May 1, 2021 N 136-FZ “On Amendments to Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Individual (Personified) Accounting in the Compulsory Pension Insurance System” and the Federal Law “On Special Assessment of Working Conditions” (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2016, No. 18, Art. 2512) based on the results of studies (tests) and measurements of harmful and (or) hazardous production factors are recognized as optimal or acceptable, with the exception of the workplaces indicated in part 6 of Article 10 of the Federal Law of December 28, 2013 N 426-FZ “On special assessment of working conditions” (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2013, N 52, Art. 6991; 2014, N 26, Art. 3366; 2015, N 29, Art. 4342; 2021, N 18, Art. 2512), the employer submits to the territorial body of the Federal Service for Labor and Employment at its location an updated declaration of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory requirements for labor protection in the form approved by this order with inclusion in not these jobs.”;

b) paragraph 3 is considered paragraph 4;

c) in Appendix No. 1 to the order:

the line “no harmful and (or) dangerous production factors or conditions have been identified” should be worded as follows:

“based on the identification results, no harmful and (or) dangerous production factors were identified or working conditions, based on the results of research (tests) and measurements of harmful and (or) dangerous production factors, were recognized as optimal or acceptable conditions”;

the subscript “(details of the expert opinion of the organization that conducted the special assessment of working conditions)” of the line “The declaration was submitted on the basis of” should be worded as follows:

“(details of the expert’s conclusion from the organization that conducted the special assessment of working conditions, and (or) the protocol(s) for conducting research (tests) or measuring harmful and (or) hazardous production factors)";

the footnote “*” after the word “seal” should be supplemented with the words “(if available)”;

d) in Appendix No. 2 to the order:

paragraph 2, after the words “no factors were identified”, add the words “, as well as working conditions in which, based on the results of research (tests) and measurements of harmful and (or) dangerous production factors, are recognized as optimal or acceptable, with the exception of the workplaces specified in part 6 of the article 10 of the Federal Law of December 28, 2013 N 426-FZ “On special assessment of working conditions” (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2013, N 52, Art. 6991; 2014, N 26, Art. 3366; 2015, N 29, Art. .4342; 2021, N 18, Art. 2512).";

in paragraph 3, delete the words “to this order”, after the words “its location” add the words “or the location of its branch or representative office”;

paragraph 5 after the words “a declaration is submitted” should be supplemented with the words “taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on personal data and the legislation of the Russian Federation on state and other secrets protected by law”;

in paragraph 7, replace the words “established by Appendix No. 1 to this order” with the words “provided for by Appendix No. 1”;

e) in Appendix No. 3 to the order:

paragraph 4 should be stated as follows:

"4. The register contains information about received declarations, information about the extension of their validity, termination of their validity in relation to workplaces where workers have had industrial accidents (with the exception of industrial accidents that occurred due to the fault of third parties), or in cases when workers are diagnosed with occupational diseases, provided that the cause of such accidents and occupational diseases was the impact on workers of harmful and (or) dangerous factors in the working environment and the labor process, or in relation to the worker and (or) at his workplace were identified during conducting federal state supervision over compliance with labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law standards, violations of state regulatory labor protection requirements contained in federal laws and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, as well as in the event of the occurrence of the circumstances specified in paragraph 6 of this Procedure, with the exception of information constituting a state or other secret protected by law.”;

subparagraph “g” of paragraph 7 should be stated as follows:

“g) details of the expert’s conclusion from the organization that conducted the special assessment of working conditions, and (or) the protocol(s) of research (tests) and measurements of harmful and (or) hazardous production factors that served as the basis for filing the declaration.”

In the annex to the order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation dated August 12, 2014 N 549n “On approval of the Procedure for conducting state examination of working conditions” (registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on October 31, 2014, registration N 34545):

a) in the numbering heading, replace the words “social development” with the words “social protection”;

b) subparagraphs “a” and “c” of paragraph 3 after the word “insurers” are supplemented with the words “organizations that conducted a special assessment of working conditions”;

c) in paragraph eleven of clause 11, replace the word “report” with the words “report approved by the employer”;

d) in paragraph 40:

the words “(if the state examination of working conditions was carried out in order to assess the quality of the special assessment of working conditions)” should be replaced with the words “(if the organization that conducted the special assessment of working conditions is not the applicant, or the state examination of working conditions was carried out in for the purpose of assessing the quality of a special assessment of working conditions)";

add the following paragraph:

“The requirements of this paragraph do not apply to cases of state examination of working conditions based on determinations of judicial authorities.”;

e) add paragraph 46 with the following content:

"46. The conclusion on the consideration of disagreements on the issues of conducting a state examination of working conditions in order to assess the quality of a special assessment of working conditions is mandatory for all parties to the disagreement.”

In the appendix to the order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation dated December 5, 2014 N 976n “On approval of the methodology for reducing the class (subclass) of working conditions when workers employed in workplaces with hazardous working conditions use effective personal protective equipment that has passed mandatory certification in the manner established by the relevant technical regulations" (registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on February 20, 2015, registration N 36128):

a) in paragraph one of paragraph 42, the words “for purposes” are replaced with the words “for purposes”;

b) in subclause 6 of clause 45, the words “territorial body” should be deleted.

In the appendix to the order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation dated November 3, 2015 N 843n “On approval of the Procedure for the formation, storage and use of information contained in the Federal State Information System for recording the results of a special assessment of working conditions” (registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation December 7, 2015, registration N 39989):

a) subparagraph 1 of paragraph 3 shall be supplemented with the words “and the legislation of the Russian Federation on state and other secrets protected by law”;

b) in subclause 3 of clause 5, replace the words “subclauses 1, 3, 5 of clause 15” with the words “subclauses 1, 4 of clause 14”;

c) in paragraph 6:

paragraph one should be supplemented with the words “except for information constituting a state or other secret protected by law, taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on personal data”;

in subparagraph 2:

Paragraph six should be supplemented with the words “and information about a reduction in the class (subclass) of working conditions based on an assessment of the effectiveness of personal protective equipment, including details of the protocol for assessing the effectiveness of personal protective equipment used by workers employed in workplaces with hazardous working conditions that have passed mandatory certification in the manner established by technical regulations, carried out in order to reduce the class (subclass) of working conditions";

Paragraph seven should be stated as follows:

“the basis for the formation of the rights of workers employed in a given workplace to the early assignment of an old-age insurance pension (if such rights exist);”;

add paragraph nine with the following content:

“information on the adoption by the federal executive body authorized to conduct federal state supervision over compliance with labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law norms, a decision to terminate the declaration of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory labor protection requirements”;

paragraph two of subparagraph 3 should be supplemented with the words “indicating the names of branches and representative offices of the organization (if any)”;

d) in paragraph 7:

paragraph one should be supplemented with the words “as well as information about the decision to terminate the declaration of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory requirements for labor protection”;

add the following paragraph:

“Information on the termination of the declaration of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory labor protection requirements is transferred to the accounting information system within ten working days from the date of adoption of the decision specified in paragraph one of this paragraph with an indication in relation to:

employer - information provided for in paragraphs two, three, four, five of subparagraph 1 of paragraph 6 of the Procedure;

workplace - information provided for in paragraphs two, five and eight of subclause 2 of clause 6 of the Procedure;

the organization that carried out the special assessment of working conditions - information provided for in paragraph two of subparagraph 3 of paragraph 6 of the Procedure, subparagraphs “g”, “h”, “i”, “j” of paragraph 7 of the Procedure for the formation and maintenance of a register of declarations of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory requirements labor protection.";

e) add a new footnote 2 with the following content:

» 2 Approved by order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated February 7, 2014 N 80n “On the form and procedure for submitting a declaration of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory requirements for labor protection, the Procedure for forming and maintaining a register of declarations of compliance of working conditions with state regulatory requirements for labor protection” (registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation Federation May 22, 2014, registration N 32387)";

f) footnotes 2-3 are considered footnotes 3-4, respectively;

g) paragraph one of clause 8, after the words “special assessment of working conditions”, add the words “except for information constituting a state or other secret protected by law, taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on personal data,”;

h) paragraph one of paragraph 9, after the words “with the results of an examination of the quality of a special assessment of working conditions,” shall be supplemented with the words “except for information constituting a state or other secret protected by law, taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on personal data,”;

i) paragraph two of subclause 2 of clause 11 should be stated as follows:

“A qualified certificate of an electronic signature verification key is issued by the Operator’s certification center or other certification centers accredited in the manner established by Federal Law No. 63-FZ of April 6, 2011 “On Electronic Signatures”5.”;

j) add a new footnote 5 with the following content:

“5 Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2011, No. 15, Art. 2036; N 27, art. 3880; 2012, N 29, art. 3988; 2013, N 14, art. 1668; N 27, art. 3463, 3477; 2014, N 11, art. 1098; N 26, art. 3390; 2021, N 1, Art. 65.”;

k) footnote 5 is considered footnote 6.

Errors and violations made during the implementation of SOUT

Listed below are the most common mistakes made by employers and appraisers when conducting special assessments:

• Employer mistakes.

Due to the special assessment, the employer may be punished by labor inspectors. It's all about the numerous requirements that the law imposes on this procedure.

Let's name the most common violations of employers during the implementation of SOUT:

Authorization

Special assessment of working conditions: step-by-step actions

Regulations:

● Art. 212 Labor Code of the Russian Federation;

● Federal Law No. 426-FZ of December 28, 2013 “On special assessment of working conditions”;

● Order of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated January 24, 2014 No. 33n “On approval of the Methodology for conducting a special assessment of working conditions, the Classifier of harmful and (or) hazardous production factors, the report form for a special assessment of working conditions and instructions for filling it out.”

The order of carrying out SOUT

All workplaces of the organization are subject to a special assessment of working conditions.

Assessment of working conditions is carried out once every 5 years. The special assessment of working conditions may be carried out in stages and must be completed no later than December 31, 2021.

Step-by-step actions of the commission when conducting a special assessment of working conditions

STEP #1

At the preparatory stage, the head of the educational organization, together with the trade union committee, creates the necessary package of documents:

● Order to conduct a special assessment of working conditions;

● Order on the creation of a commission for carrying out special assessment of technical work, which must indicate the composition and procedure of the commission’s activities (parts 1-4 of article 9 of Federal Law No. 426-FZ).

Procedure of the commission:

● the schedule for carrying out the relevant work is determined;

● a list of jobs is compiled indicating similar ones;

● for all workplaces subject to SOUT, a package of documents is compiled on the characteristics of the equipment used (declarations, certificates, technical passports...);

● for all workplaces that are subject to SOUT, a timeline is compiled of the working time of the employee performing his functional duties at this workplace, the load on the vocal apparatus (see Appendix No. 20 to the methodology for conducting SOUT). A map of the work performed by the employee at a given workplace is also drawn up, indicating the duration of stay in the “standing”, “sitting” position, and indicating the severity of the load that the employee has to lift during the work shift.

STEP #2

Selecting an organization conducting a special assessment of working conditions.

According to Art. 19 and Art. 21 Federal Law No. 426-FZ, this organization must meet the following requirements:

● indication in the organization’s statutory documents as the main activity of conducting a special assessment of working conditions;

● presence of at least 5 experts in the organization;

● presence of an accredited testing laboratory as a structural unit;

● this organization must be included in the register of organizations approved by the Russian Ministry of Labor.

STEP #3

Signing an agreement with the organization conducting the SOUT.

STEP #4

Identification of potentially harmful and dangerous production factors.

Identification is carried out by an expert of the organization. Identification of potentially harmful production factors - comparison and establishment of a coincidence of the factors of the production environment and labor process existing in the workplace with the factors of the production environment and labor process provided for by the classifier of harmful and dangerous production factors approved by Order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation of January 24, 2014 No. 33n.

Case 1 – if harmful production factors are not identified at the workplace, the employer must proceed to the procedure for declaring compliance of working conditions with state regulatory labor protection requirements (Part 1, Article 11 of Federal Law No. 426-FZ).

Case 2 - if harmful production factors in the workplace are identified, in this case, harmful production factors are subject to research (testing) and measurements (Part 1, Article 12 of Federal Law No. 426-FZ).

STEP #5

Carrying out measurements.

The list of harmful and dangerous production factors subject to research and measurement is compiled by the commission based on:

— state regulatory requirements for labor protection;

— characteristics of the technological process and production equipment, materials and raw materials used;

— the results of previously conducted studies (tests of harmful production factors) conducted by a testing laboratory accredited in accordance with the procedure established by law during the implementation of production control over working conditions organized at workplaces, but not earlier than six months before the implementation of the SOUT;

— suggestions from employees.

STEP #6

Classification of working conditions.

Based on the results of research (measurements), the expert assigns working conditions to classes (subclasses) according to the degree of harmfulness.

Working conditions are divided into 4 classes Art. 14 Federal Law No. 426-FZ.

The final class (subclass) of working conditions is established according to the highest class (subclass).

In the case of the use of effective certified personal protective equipment by workers employed in workplaces with hazardous working conditions, the class (subclass) may be reduced by the commission based on the opinion of the expert conducting the special safety assessment by one degree in accordance with the Methodology.

STEP #7

Stage of registration of SOUT results

Drawing up a report on a special assessment of working conditions.

The report form and instructions for filling it out were approved by order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation dated January 24, 2014. No. 33n.

The report on the assessment of working conditions is signed by all members of the commission and approved by the chairman of the commission.

A member of the commission who does not agree with the results of the SOUT has the right to express in writing a reasoned dissenting opinion, which is attached to the report (Part 2, Article 15 of Federal Law No. 426-FZ).

STEP #8

Transfer of data on the results of SOUT

In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 18 Federal Law No. 426-FZ dated December 28, 2013, the responsibility for transferring the results of the special assessment and assessment process is assigned to the organization that conducted the special assessment of working conditions.

From January 1, 2021, the results of the SOUT (see Article 18 of the Federal Law No. 426-FZ) are transferred to the Federal State Information System for recording the results of the SOUT by the organization conducting a special assessment of working conditions within 10 working days from the date of approval of the report (Part 1 Article 18 Federal Law No. 426-FZ).

Part 4 Art. 18 Federal Law No. 426-FZ provides:

- in case of failure by the organization that carried out the special technical assessment to fulfill the obligations provided for in Part 1 of Art. 18 Federal Law No. 426-FZ, the employer has the right to transfer to the territorial body of the federal body of state supervision over compliance with labor legislation and other legal acts containing labor law norms, including in electronic form, the information it has in relation to these accounting objects.

Provide in the contract for carrying out SOUT:

— the customer’s obligation to notify the contractor about the date of approval of the report on the implementation of the special assessment system, indicating a specific period, method (form) of notification (no more than 5 days from the date of approval of the report on the implementation of the assessment system). Including by sending a letter with a scanned copy of the title page of the report by email, indicating the specific email address of the recipient.

Failure by the organization conducting the special assessment to provide information on the results of the special assessment within ten days from the date of approval of the report is a violation of the established procedure for conducting the special assessment and entails administrative liability in accordance with Article 14.54 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses.

STEP #9

Familiarization of workers with the results of a special assessment of working conditions.

The employer organizes familiarization of employees with the results of the special assessment and assessment against signature no later than thirty calendar days from the date of approval of the report on the conduct of the assessment.

STEP #10

Posting the results of the SOUT on the organization’s website (if there is a website).

The employer posts:

— Classes of working conditions established at workplaces;

— List of measures to improve working conditions and labor protection of workers.

STEP #11

Providing guarantees and compensation to employees engaged in hazardous working conditions:

STEP #12

Storing by the employer of documents on the conduct of special assessment work.

Documents for assessing working conditions in accordance with clause 622 of section 7.3. Order of the Ministry of Culture of Russia dated August 25, 2010. No. 558 “On approval of the List of standard management archival documents and their storage periods” are stored in an educational organization for 75 years if there are harmful production factors in the workplace and 45 years if there are none.

SOUT financing

The main source of financing for the SOUT is budget funds.

Insurance contributions to the Social Insurance Fund (in the amount of 20%) can be used as an additional source for carrying out SOUT.

Automatic fines SOUT 2021

For the fact that an employer violated the rules for conducting a special assessment established by law or did not carry out this procedure at all, in 2020 they will continue to be punished under Part 2 of Art. 5.27.1 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

The penalties have not changed - the employer will be warned or fined in the following amounts:

• officials and individual entrepreneurs - from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles;
• companies - from 60,000 to 80,000 rubles.

The differences between the 2020 fines and those in force in 2021 are the possibility of their imposition not only by inspectors during inspections, but also the generation of fines automatically.

A special computer program will monitor information received by FSIS SOUT and compare data on the registration period of employers with information on the special assessment they conducted. If the program detects that the company has been operating for more than a year, but has not carried out a special assessment, a fine under Part 2 of Art. 5.27.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation will be calculated automatically without the participation of controllers.

Let's sum it up

• Starting from 2021, amendments and additions are being made to the Law “On Special Assessment of Working Conditions” dated December 28, 2013 No. 426-FZ, according to which SOUT participants will have new responsibilities.
• The appraiser company will be obliged, before the start of the SOUT, to register the employer in the FSIS SOUT and inform him of the identification number assigned to him by this system - without this number, the SOUT report will be invalid.
• It will be possible to use the results of the special assessment only after information about it appears in the FSIS SOUT (currently this moment is tied to the date of approval of the report).
• The appraiser company will have a new obligation to inform the employer about the fact of sending information to FSIS SOUT about the special assessment carried out at his enterprise. This is given 3 working days from the moment such information is sent to the information system.
• From 2021, fines for violating the procedure for conducting special assessments and failure to conduct a special assessment will be assessed not only based on the results of inspections, but also automatically based on the results of monitoring the information available in the information system.

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