Responsibilities of Organizations in the Field of Emergency Protection

Chakalova Marina Spiridonovna PhD in Law Consultant-legal adviser, Department of Education of the Administration of the Predgorny municipal district of the Stavropol Region 357350, Russia, Stavropol Territory, Essentukskaya st., lane. Rayevsky, 3 marina.chakalova@mail.ru Other publications by this author

 The obligations of organizations in the field of protection of the population and territories from emergency situations are established in Article 14 of Federal Law No. 68-FZ of 21.12.1994 "On Protection of the Population and Territories from natural and Man–made emergencies" (hereinafter - FZ-68) and Article 9 of Federal Law No. 28-FZ of 12.02.1998 "On Civil Defense" (hereinafter referred to as FZ–28), since civil defense also includes the protection of the population in emergency situations of a natural and man-made nature (hereinafter referred to as emergencies), i.e. the responsibilities of organizations in emergencies are spelled out in two federal laws that duplicate each other.

Consider the formulations given in FZ-68. The title of article 14 "obligations of organizations in the field of protection of the population and territories from emergency situations" and the text of the article itself, containing the obligations of organizations to protect its employees, allow us to conclude that it establishes the obligations of these organizations to protect their employees.

The preamble states that the law applies to relations arising in the course of the activities of organizations, regardless of their organizational and legal form, which can be applied both to organizations in the field of public protection and to any organizations in such relations.

Article 1 refers to territories at risk of rapidly developing natural hazards and man-made processes (a critically important or potentially dangerous object of industrial and social significance).

Article 4 refers to organizations whose powers include solving issues of protecting the population and territories from emergencies included in the Unified State System of Prevention and Liquidation of Emergency Situations (hereinafter - the Unified State Emergency Management System).   

The content of paragraphs "a)", "b)", "e)" and "e)" of Article 14 suggests that this article establishes obligations for organizations and subordinate industrial and social facilities operating in emergencies.

We propose to replace the wording "employees of organizations and subordinate industrial and social facilities" with "employees of organizations": 1) there are employees of organizations, but not of construction objects; 2) buildings (structures) can only be of industrial and non-industrial purpose^[1], therefore, there is no need to specify the types of capital construction objects.

Thus, the wording given in FZ-68 does not allow organizations to draw a clear conclusion that the obligations established by Article 14 concern them all.

 The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation considers that, by virtue of the law, organizations are obliged to carry out measures aimed at protecting the population and territories from emergency situations against employees of organizations, regardless of whether they are part of the Unified State Register and whether they are specially authorized organizations to carry out such measures, this follows from the provisions of Article 14 of FZ-68^[2].

We will analyze the responsibilities of organizations established by Article 14 of the Federal Law-68.

Planning and implementation of measures to localize and eliminate the consequences of accidents at a hazardous production facility is the responsibility of the organization operating such an object^{[3] [4]}. Such obligations for other organizations are not provided for by law.   

 We think that only organizations that are obliged to function in such conditions, for example, those included in the Unified State Register of Emergency Situations: public authorities specially authorized in the area under consideration, duty dispatching and emergency rescue services, fire protection, as well as medical organizations, etc. should increase the stability of their functioning and ensure the vital activity of workers in an emergency.^{[5][6] [7] [8]}

The overwhelming majority of organizations do not need to function in an emergency. Thus, educational organizations, in the event of a threat and (or) the occurrence of an emergency, implement educational programs using e-learning remotely^[9].

Ensuring the creation, preparation and maintenance in readiness for the use of emergency forces and means is established by the current legislation only for organizations that are members of the Unified State System ^[10].

           In order to train employees, it is planned to conduct instruction on actions in emergency situations at least once a year and when hiring, independent study, participation in exercises and trainings ^{[11] [12]}.

Training in first aid to victims, the use of personal protective equipment, safe methods of work is included in the training on labor protection in accordance with Article 219 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Notification of employees of organizations about the threat of occurrence or the occurrence of an emergency is considered by paragraph "h)" of the analyzed article. The creation of local emergency warning systems is established by federal legislation^{[13] [14]} only for potentially dangerous objects. According to civil defense, this item was declared invalid^[15].

Emergency work in emergency response refers to the comprehensive provision of emergency rescue operations, provision of medical and other types of assistance to the population. The conduct of emergency rescue operations is characterized by the presence of factors that threaten the life and health of the people carrying out these works, requires special training, equipment and equipment ^[16]. Consequently, the responsibilities of organizations that are not emergency services may include only emergency work. Emergency rescue formations are created by organizations established by paragraph 2 of Article 9 of FZ-28, classified as civil defense.

We think it is not necessary to establish the obligation of an organization to finance, since organizations exercise their powers independently at their own expense; the acquisition of property is also possible without allocating financial resources on the grounds provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Budget Code of the Russian Federation. The obligation of organizations prescribed in the law already implies its financing by them. For state and municipal organizations, financing is carried out by the relevant public authorities, therefore, such an obligation is not fulfilled by them.

Reserves of financial and material resources for emergency response are created by organizations, in accordance with the procedure approved by them, according to Article 25 of the Federal Law-68. Organizations determine their list and number independently, taking into account the predicted nature of the emergency situation. At the same time, public authorities cannot establish a list of such funds for them.  

 Let's consider what material resources can be created by each organization.

Reserves of personal protective equipment are created taking into account the risk factors of an emergency, employees of organizations located in the territories around the complex of facilities for the storage and destruction of chemical weapons, radiation, nuclear and chemically hazardous facilities are subject to them ^[17].

Every organization should be provided with fire safety and fire extinguishing means^[18].  

Medical supplies (first aid kit) must also be in every organization^[19], in order to implement the right of employees to sanitary and household services, established by Article 216.3. of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.                                                                                                                     

There is no need to create a food reserve, since organizations should create it only for local emergencies, on the territory of the organization itself ^[20], that is, there is the possibility of purchasing in neighboring grocery stores.     

We offer organizations to create a reserve of material resources for emergency response from fire safety equipment and medical equipment (also personal protective equipment, if provided for by the relevant legal act), since their mandatory availability in each organization is already provided for by other federal laws and in case of emergency they may be needed first. Educational organizations may also use for these purposes medical equipment and medical materials purchased in accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation dated 05.11.2013 No. 822 n "On approval of the Procedure for providing medical care to minors, including during the period of education and upbringing in educational organizations."

Material resources, including those acquired by organizations in accordance with other laws (not for the purpose of implementing Federal Laws No. 68 and No. 28), can be considered a reserve of material resources for emergency response (civil defense), if they are included in the nomenclature of the reserve of material resources approved by the legal act of the organization on the creation of such a reserve. At the same time, there will be no need for additional funding for these purposes, the legislation and the protection of workers' rights will be respected.

Organizations assist the authorized bodies in the exercise of their powers: at the request of the relevant federal body, they provide sites for the installation of specialized technical means of notifying and informing the population, provide and (or) use their existing technical devices ^[21], which in itself is not a separate independent responsibility of the organization.

           A high-alert or emergency mode for the relevant management bodies and forces of the Unified State System is introduced by public authorities, according to Article 11 of FZ-68. Decisions on this issue are made by the heads of public authorities and organizations in relation to the relevant management bodies and forces of the Unified State System^[22]. We believe that the head of an organization that is not part of the Unified State System is not authorized to introduce such a regime for the management bodies and forces of the Unified State System, to make a decision on setting the level of response, etc., this is the authority of special bodies. In addition, organizations whose categories are not considered in FZ-68 have responsibilities for protection in case of local emergencies, and such a regime is unlikely to be introduced on the territory of a single organization.

Responsibility for violation of legislation in the field of emergency protection is provided for in Article 28 of FZ-68, we think it should not be included in the article establishing the obligations of organizations.

In addition, we believe that the responsibility for non-compliance or unfair implementation of legislation in the field of emergency protection for organizations included in the Unified State Register, operating in emergencies, operating hazardous production facilities, and other organizations, for example, offices or shops, cannot be the same.  In this case, the punishment should correspond to the severity of the degree of harm to the state and society^[23].

Ensuring public safety is under the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation in accordance with paragraph "b" of Part 1 of Article 72 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Federal Law No. 390-FZ of December 28, 2010 "On Security" defines the powers of public authorities, but does not mention the powers of organizations in the field of security.

 Article 22 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes the employer's obligation to ensure the safety of employees and this applies to everyone, with the exception of individuals who are not individual entrepreneurs.

The safety of the population is guaranteed by the authorities, ensuring the safety of employees is the responsibility of the employer. Every organization, regardless of whether an emergency is of a local nature or not, what responsibilities it has in the field of emergency protection, has the right and is obliged to apply to specialized organizations of any level for qualified assistance in order to protect its employees.

Based on the above, since the powers of organizations in the field of protecting the population from emergencies, in our opinion, should still differ and depend on whether they function in an emergency, whether they are included in the Unified State Register of Emergency Situations, whether they pose a danger to the environment, whether it is a question of protecting the population, we propose to supplement FZ-68 with Article 14.1 "Obligations of organizations to protect employees from emergencies", which establishes obligations for organizations not classified in the categories considered by FZ-68: 1) to train employees of the organization in the field of emergency protection; 2) to notify employees of the organization about the threat of an emergency or the occurrence of an emergency; 3) to carry out urgent work during the liquidation of an emergency; 4) to assist the authorized bodies in the exercise of their powers in the field of emergency situations within the limits established by federal regulatory legal acts.

This will lead to compliance with the current legislation, the establishment of clarity in the definition of organizations of their responsibilities in the field of emergency protection, therefore, their execution.