Since 1 September 2022, the Government Decree of the Russian Federation N 2464 dated 24 December 2021 on the Procedure of Labor Safety Training and Knowledge Testing of Labor Safety Requirements came into effect approving the New Labor Safety Training and Labor Safety Knowledge Testing Rules shall become effective.

These Rules specify the cases in which an unscheduled training in occupational safety shall be conducted. In particular, the Rules specify that unscheduled training of employees in occupational safety requirements shall be arranged within 60 calendar days from the date of the following events:

1) entry into force of the regulations containing state regulatory requirements for occupational safety;

2) commissioning of a new type of equipment, tools and devices, introduction of new processes, as well as use of a new type of raw materials and materials, which require the acquisition of additional occupational safety knowledge by employees;

3) changes in equipment operation, processes, use of raw materials and materials, official (functional) duties of employees, directly associated with the implementation of production activity, influencing the occupational safety.

Unscheduled training of employees in the above cases shall be conducted within the scope of occupational safety requirements, which served as the basis for updating the training programs, after they were updated.

At the same time, the documents confirming the verification of employees’ knowledge of occupational safety requirements, issued in the prescribed manner before the enactment of the Rules, shall be valid until their expiry.

Thus, according to the position stated in the Letter of the Ministry of Labor of Russia N 15-2/OOG-1803 dated 02.08.2022, an unscheduled testing of the employees’ knowledge of occupational safety requirements should be made in respect of employees, if the changes introduced by new regulatory provisions are related to their functions. The form, procedure and duration of testing the blue-collar employees’ knowledge of occupational safety requirements shall be established by the employer (or its designee) in accordance with the regulations governing the safety of certain types of work.