LEGAL REGULATION OF PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT AT THE WORKPLACE IN WARTIME CONDITIONS

Abstract

Background. The article introduces the study of the legal foundations of the implementation policies and practices for psychosocial support of employees. In national legislation and the doctrine of labour law, there is remains predominant the understanding of occupational health as compliance with the norms of safety technology and industrial sanitation. At the level of international labour standards, more and more emphasis on occupational safety management is shifting to psychological safety. In the conditions of a full-scale war in Ukraine, the issues of psychosocial support of employees become especially relevant. The workplace itself can and should become an important centre of psychological stability, support and help.

Methods. The dialectical method, historical method, comparative-legal and formal-logical methods were used to reveal the subject. The empirical basis is the reporting documents based on the results of piloting psychosocial support programs at the workplace in Ukraine.

Results. The article defines the legal basis for the regulation of psychological working conditions at the international and national levels. It has been made the pproposals to improve the labour legislation of Ukraine in order to take psychosocial risks into account in the labour protection management system. The author analysed the results of piloting programs of psychosocial support at the workplace, the algorithm for introducing the relevant programs. The article presents the idea that the issue of protection against psychosocial risks can be regulated by local acts and become an integral part of the organizational culture of each employer.

Conclusion. The legal institute of labour protection in Ukraine needs reinterpretation. In the future, a national program for strengthening mental health at work should be developed. At the same time, it is already necessary to improve labour legislation in order to integrate psychosocial risks into risk assessments as part of occupational health and safety management systems. Improvement of the psychological climate has a local nature, therefore it should be ensured with the help of cooperation between the employer and the employees. The pressing need, especially given the increased stress level in the conditions of full-scale war, is the implementation by every employer of permanent practices and policies of psychosocial support of employees.