Commentary on Article 156. Violation of Occupational Health and Safety Rules of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan
1. Violation of safety regulations, industrial sanitation rules or other occupational health and safety rules, committed by a person who was entrusted with the responsibility for organizing or ensuring compliance with these rules, which negligently resulted in the infliction of bodily harm of moderate severity, —
shall be punishable by a fine in an amount of up to one hundred and sixty monthly calculation indices, or corrective labor in the same amount, or community service for a period of up to one hundred and sixty hours, or arrest for a period of up to forty days.
2. The same act, which negligently resulted in the infliction of grievous bodily harm, —
shall be punishable by a fine in an amount of up to two hundred monthly calculation indices, or corrective labor in the same amount, or community service for a period of up to two hundred hours, or arrest for a period of up to fifty days, with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years.
3. An act provided for in Part One of this Article, which negligently resulted in the death of a person, —
shall be punishable by restriction of liberty for a period of up to five years or deprivation of liberty for the same period, with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years.
4. An act provided for in Part One of this Article, which negligently resulted in the death of two or more persons, —
shall be punishable by restriction of liberty for a period of up to seven years or deprivation of liberty for the same period, with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years.
The public danger of the criminal offense under consideration (Parts 1 and 2 constitute criminal misdemeanors, while Parts 3 and 4 constitute crimes) is expressed in the violation of the right to safe working conditions guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Paragraph 2 of Article 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan states: “Everyone shall have the right to working conditions that meet the requirements of safety and hygiene, to remuneration for work without any discrimination, and to social protection against unemployment.”
Section 4, “Occupational Safety and Health,” of the Labour Code establishes the main directions of state policy in the field of occupational health and safety, regulates public relations in the field of occupational safety and health in Kazakhstan, and is aimed at ensuring the safety and preserving the life and health of employees in the course of their employment.
In accordance with subparagraph 23) of paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the Labour Code, occupational safety means the state of protection of employees ensured by a set of measures that eliminate the impact of harmful and (or) hazardous occupational factors on employees in the course of their employment.
Safe working conditions mean the compliance of the work process and the production environment with occupational safety and health requirements when an employee performs their job duties (subparagraph 24) of paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the Labour Code).
The object of the criminal offense is the above-mentioned constitutional right. An additional object is the life or health of citizens.
The objective side consists in the violation of safety regulations, industrial sanitation rules or other occupational health and safety rules by a person who was entrusted with the responsibility for organizing or ensuring compliance with these rules, which negligently resulted in the infliction of bodily harm of moderate severity.
The disposition of the Article is blanket in nature; therefore, in order to establish the unlawfulness of the act committed, it is necessary to refer to the Labour Code, as well as other departmental regulatory legal acts, for example, safety regulations governing the performance of work in a specific sector of industry, agriculture, and so forth. In order to bring the guilty person to criminal liability, it is necessary to establish precisely which safety regulations, industrial sanitation rules or occupational health and safety rules were violated.
By its legal structure, the elements of the criminal offense are material. The offense is considered completed from the moment the consequences specified in the disposition occur, namely, the infliction of grievous or moderate bodily harm, the death of one person, or the death of two or more persons.
From the subjective side, the act is characterized by guilt in the form of negligence. The perpetrator foresees the possibility of the occurrence of the specified consequences but, without sufficient grounds, recklessly relies on preventing them, or does not foresee the possibility of their occurrence, although, with due attention and foresight, they should and could have foreseen them.
The subject of the criminal offense is special — a person who has been entrusted with the responsibility for organizing or ensuring compliance with occupational health and safety rules.
Part 2 of Article 156 of the Criminal Code provides for the violation of the above-mentioned rules, which negligently resulted in the infliction of grievous bodily harm, as a qualifying element.
In Part 3 of Article 156 of the Criminal Code, the legislator establishes criminal liability for violation of occupational health and safety rules that negligently resulted in the death of a person.
Part 4 of Article 156 of the Criminal Code establishes criminal liability for committing the same act, which negligently resulted in the death of two or more persons.
The criminal offenses provided for in Article 156 of the Criminal Code should be distinguished from other offenses that establish liability for violations of special safety regulations in various industries, in particular: violations of safety regulations in mining or construction operations (Article 277 of the Criminal Code) and violations of safety regulations at explosive facilities (Article 281 of the Criminal Code).
The acts provided for in Parts 1 and 2 of Article 156 of the Criminal Code constitute criminal misdemeanors.
The act provided for in Part 3 of Article 156 of the Criminal Code constitutes a crime of medium severity.
The act provided for in Part 4 of Article 156 of the Criminal Code constitutes a serious crime.
Commentary of 2021 on the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan by Isidor Shamilovich Borchashvili, Honored Figure of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Natural Sciences of Kazakhstan, member of the Scientific Advisory Councils under the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, member of the working group on reform of the law enforcement system under the Security Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Honored Employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
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