The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia has proposed changes to the government decree that regulates the list of heavy and hazardous jobs in which the employment of minors is prohibited. The new initiative involves allowing persons from the age of 16 to work in some of these industries, if employers provide safe working conditions. Such conditions must be confirmed by workplace certification, state expertise and the conclusion of the state sanitary and epidemiological supervision service of the region.
The Ministry believes that these changes will help enterprises conclude paid practice agreements with college and technical school students. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has already created a working group with the Ministry of Labor to prepare proposals for adjusting the current decree. The changes are especially relevant in the framework of the federal project "Professionalitet" and the modernization of workplaces over the past two decades.
The list, which has been in effect since 2000, prohibits minors from working in enterprises with hazardous conditions, including mines, metallurgical industries, drilling rigs and the petrochemical industry. If the initiative is adopted, the new rules will allow adjusting this list, expanding opportunities for training young specialists, without prejudice to their health.
