In the first reading, the Ukrainian parliament passed the draft law No. 12030 “On the Mental Health Care System in Ukraine”. Its goal is to create an accessible, efficient and well-coordinated system that will take care of our psychological health both at home in the kitchen and at work. The new document envisages reforming the approach to preserving and improving the mental health of citizens and establishes the legal, social and organizational framework for creating a comprehensive system of support for Ukrainians in all spheres of life. The key changes will affect not only everyday life but also labor legislation and the law of Ukraine on labor protection.
Before we move on to what will change for employers and labor relations in general, let’s understand what mental health and well-being is that everyone is talking about and even a whole law has been invented.
So, Article 1 of the draft law provides the following definitions:
Mental health is a state of well-being in which each person can realize his or her own potential, cope with life’s difficulties, work productively and fruitfully, and contribute to the life of his or her community.
Psychological well-being is a subjective feeling of an individual about achieving optimal mental functioning, which includes a sense of satisfaction with the quality of one’s own life, purposefulness and meaning of life events, the choice of effective strategies for realizing personal potential, and an optimal level of psychological stability and adaptability in overcoming life difficulties.
At first glance, these two definitions seem similar, but they are not, they are rather interrelated. Mental health is the foundation, the state of your mind. It is similar to physical health: when everything is good, you can think, solve problems, learn, and cope with stress. If you have problems (such as depression or anxiety), you need help, just like in the case of an illness. Mental well-being is about how you feel in life. It is more about happiness, harmony, peace and satisfaction with your life.
In occupational safety and health, an example is the use of PPE, where mental health is the availability of the necessary PPE, and mental well-being is the comfort of using these means.
What will this mean for employers?
Employers now have to ensure psychological well-being and take care of mental health in the workplace.
Employers now have to ensure psychological well-being and take care of mental health in the workplace.
Caring for the psychological well-being of employees. The amendment to the Law of Ukraine “On Labor Protection”, namely Article 6, reads as follows:
“An employee has the right to psychosocial support in the workplace, for which the employer shall take measures determined by law, develop and implement a policy or plan for the protection and promotion of mental health in the workplace.”
From now on, employers will be obliged to implement programs to prevent professional burnout, organize stress reduction training, and provide access to psychological counseling. The law does not yet specify what specific measures an employer should take. However, many companies are already implementing such measures ahead of this legislation. Maintaining the psychological state of employees in modern corporations is a priority and is done through corporate psychologist sessions, the availability of full-time psychological assistance specialists, periodic testing of employees, yoga classes, and generally creating a happy corporate atmosphere among employees through training and education. If you have been looking for such trainings for your company, we have something to offer you. Links.
Some companies not only take into account the negative aspects of the psycho-emotional state of employees when assessing risks, but also before performing high-risk work, in addition to issuing work permits and briefings, they also practice assessing the psycho-emotional state of employees. A negative result of such an assessment may be a reason for not allowing an employee to perform work.
Training and instruction
Part one of Article 18 will be supplemented with the following lines:
“Employees shall receive, at the expense of the employer, briefings, training on labor protection, first aid for accident victims and rules of conduct in the event of an accident, and training on mental health issues during employment and during the course of work.”
This raises the question of whether it will be enough for employees to receive a simple briefing or whether they should be sent to a training center. Most likely, the company’s managers, representatives of the mental health service, as well as those employees who will perform high-risk work will be required to undergo training at the training center. And for employees, the topic of mental health and well-being will be covered during briefings. What will definitely need to be done is to make changes to the briefing programs, instructions, topic plans, and all training documents. Just as the Model Regulations on the Procedure for Conducting Training and Testing of Knowledge on Occupational Safety and Health have recently been amended to include a separate section in the thematic plan on psychological support and assistance at work. You can read more about these changes in our article.
Establishment of a mental health service.
Amendments to Art. 158 of the Labor Code of Ukraine provide for the establishment of such a service in accordance with the procedure established by law. Now every employer must develop and approve a policy or plan for the protection and promotion of mental health in the workplace. The amendment to Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine on Occupational Safety and Health has the same content – creation of a service, plan, policy, etc.
The addendum to Article 15-1 of the Law of Ukraine on Occupational Safety and Health provides a little more information about the mental health service, and the following is direct language:
- an employer with 50 or more employees shall establish a mental health service;
- at an enterprise with fewer than 50 employees, the functions of the mental health service may be performed on a part-time basis by persons with appropriate training;
- at an enterprise with less than 20 employees, third-party specialists with appropriate training may be engaged on a contractual basis to perform the functions of the mental health service.
Here, an analogy with the labor protection service suggests itself – the same numbers and somewhat similar wording. Just like with the occupational health service, there are no more specifics – how many people should be part of this service and what qualifications they should have. The functions and powers of the mental health service and its model regulations will be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine later. Another interesting addition is that if you have an occupational health and safety management system, the new policy or plan is included in it.
And here the question arises – are the occupational health and safety service and the mental health service identical concepts, and will the specialists in both services be the same? Most likely, the state will require two different specialists with the appropriate qualifications. Or an occupational health and safety specialist will simply need to have a degree in psychology.
The good news is that the state promises to promote mental health and prevent mental disorders and other mental health problems, to take measures to improve the hygienic culture of the population and to establish a system of socio-economic incentives for people who lead a healthy lifestyle. How this will happen remains a mystery. However, we must move in this direction and take care of mental health in all spheres of life.
While we don’t know how this will work in real life, we can say for sure that the new law on mental health care is an important step towards creating a more humane and just society. It demonstrates that mental health care has become a priority for the state and business.
If you have any questions about this draft law or would like to learn more about how to ensure mental health in your company, please contact our specialists.
Kateryna Grimovych
Occupational health and safety engineer
