Must an employer in Turkmenistan appoint a safety professional or an occupational physician?

Yes, from a size threshold. Every enterprise carrying out production activity with more than 50 workers must create a labour protection service or appoint a labour protection specialist (engineer) under Article 185 of the Labour Code of Turkmenistan. There is no general legal duty to appoint an occupational physician; the employer instead organises medical examinations through health institutions and provides first-aid facilities.

Short answer

• Threshold: more than 50 workers in an enterprise carrying out production activity (Article 185(1)).
• Options: a labour protection service (department) or the post of labour protection specialist (engineer) with suitable training or experience.
• Status: the service ranks as a main production department, reports to the head of the enterprise and may not be given unrelated duties.
• Qualification: the model job description (Order No. 106-Ö of 30 November 2012) requires higher or secondary technical education.
• Physician: no Labour Code duty to appoint one; the employer arranges and pays for medical examinations (Article 187) and equips medical rooms and sanitary posts with first-aid kits according to the established norms (Article 190).
• At or below 50 workers: the employer still carries all OSH duties personally (Article 178); there is simply no mandatory specialist post.

What the law requires of the labour protection service

Article 185 states the purpose: to ensure compliance with labour protection requirements and to control their implementation. The organisation and working procedure of the service are set by a model regulation, and the specialist's duties by a model job description, both approved by the labour inspection body authorised by the Cabinet of Ministers in agreement with Türkmenstandartlary and the National Centre of Trade Unions of Turkmenistan.

These model documents were issued by Order No. 106-Ö of the Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Population of 30 November 2012 (Türkmenistanyň Zähmet we ilaty durmuş taýdan goramak ministriniň 106-Ö belgili buýrugy). The order approves:

1. a general regulation on labour protection departments in ministries and state bodies;
2. the model regulation on the enterprise labour protection service;
3. the model regulation on the duties of the enterprise labour protection specialist (engineer);
4. the model regulation on the labour protection room;
5. recommendations on organising a labour protection room or corner.

Under the model job description the specialist monitors compliance with labour protection, fire safety and sanitary rules and the timely testing of equipment and protective devices, prepares OSH plans and training programmes, gives introductory briefings to new workers and students and organises the testing of their knowledge, studies the causes of injuries and occupational diseases, and prepares statistical reports in the forms and deadlines set by the State Statistics Committee.

Occupational health: who does what without a workplace physician

Turkmen law does not have an equivalent of the Turkish workplace physician (işyeri hekimi) or of the EU competent health service. Instead:

• the employer must organise and pay for pre-employment and periodic medical examinations of the categories listed in Article 187, carried out by medical commissions;
• the employer must equip rooms for medical help and sanitary posts with first-aid kits, and arrange transport of injured or sick workers to medical institutions at its own cost (Articles 190 and 197);
• workers in harmful or hazardous conditions receive preventive nutrition, milk and other compensations by established norms (Article 189).

An employer may add its own medical staff, for example at a remote site or because a client contract requires it, but this is not a Labour Code duty that we could identify.

Worked example

Common mistakes

• Counting only Turkmen citizens. Article 185 counts the enterprise's workers without distinction, and the Code applies to foreign workers employed in Turkmenistan (Article 5), so count them too.
• Loading the specialist with unrelated work. Article 185 forbids assigning duties that are not typical for the service, and the 2013 Code of Administrative Offences makes this a finable offence for officials (Article 305(2)).
• Assuming an occupational physician is mandatory. It is not in the Labour Code, but medical examinations and first-aid provision are.

Related on excodex

• Occupational safety and health in Turkmenistan: law, authorities and employer duties
• Are pre-employment and periodic medical examinations required for workers in Turkmenistan?
• What OSH training must employers provide to workers in Turkmenistan?
• OSH law compared: appointments and reporting deadlines

Standards and further reading

• Labour Code of Turkmenistan, Law No. 29-IV of 18 April 2009, Articles 185, 187, 190 (FAOLEX consolidated Russian translation): https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/tuk243144.pdf
• Order No. 106-Ö of the Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Population, 30 November 2012, model regulations on the labour protection service and specialist: https://mlsp.gov.tm/storage/file/8781b287d49dadcbdc0b4a98d2fe77ae.pdf

This article is general occupational safety and health information prepared by the excodex editorial team. It does not replace the applicable legislation, standards, manufacturers' instructions or the assessment of a competent OSH professional or occupational physician.