The criminal law (hereinafter referred to as the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is the state’s sharpest weapon for protecting the most significant social values. Criminal law protects the most important social relations for the individual, society and the state, attacks on which or actual harm to which entail the most severe reaction from the state. It provides for the possibility of applying the most severe coercive measures against persons who infringe on the interests of the individual, society and the state. The social danger of a crime, liability for which is provided for in Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of labor protection requirements,” consists of a violation of the constitutional right to work in conditions that meet safety and hygiene requirements (Part 3 of Article 37 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). The crime in question impedes the implementation of state policy in the field of labor protection, one of the directions of which is to ensure the priority of preserving the life and health of workers (Article 210 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
OBJECTIVE SIDE OF THE CRIME
The objective side of the crime includes: an act in the form of action or inaction, consisting of a violation of labor protection requirements; socially dangerous consequences in the form of serious harm to health (in the main part of the crime), the death of an employee (in a qualified personnel with aggravating circumstances) or the death of two or more persons in a particularly qualified personnel; a causal relationship between an action (inaction) and socially dangerous consequences. Labor protection requirements are understood as state regulatory labor protection requirements contained in federal laws and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, laws and other regulatory legal acts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Labor protection should be understood as a system for preserving the life and health of workers in the process of work, including legal, socio-economic, organizational and technical, sanitary and hygienic, treatment and preventive, rehabilitation and other measures (Part 1 of Article 209 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation ). The objective side of violation of labor protection requirements is formed by the action or inaction of subjects who deviate from general industry or local standards that ensure the safety of workers. This may be, for example, not providing instructions on compliance with safety regulations; permission to work on faulty equipment, violation of the technological process, failure to provide special protective equipment, etc. Considering that the disposition of Art. 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is blanket, therefore, in order to establish signs of a crime, it is necessary to be guided by the provisions of regulations that specify safety rules and other labor protection requirements when performing specific work. In cases of this category, it is necessary to limit the crimes provided for in Art. 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, from crimes provided for in Art. 216 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, taking into account that when resolving this issue, one should proceed from the specific work in which safety requirements were violated. If a violation of these requirements (including labor safety rules) was committed during mining or construction work, then the offense must be qualified under Art. 216 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It should be borne in mind that the legal liability for violations of labor protection requirements for persons obliged to ensure compliance with these rules occurs regardless of the form of ownership of the enterprises at which they work. The corpus delicti is material. The act is completed from the moment the socially dangerous consequences occur. In a number of cases, the objective side of the crime is formed by a series or system of actions of several different subjects. For example, when working in a mine, each of the teams consistently did not take measures to reduce methane levels after the shift. The critical point of gas concentration and the explosion followed the actions of the members of the last brigade, which died in the explosion. In this and similar cases, the question arises about the presence of a crime in the actions (inaction) of persons who had not previously taken the necessary measures, which created the conditions for the commission of a criminal act at the final stage. From our point of view, in such situations, the persons who created the conditions are not subject to criminal liability, since there is no direct and immediate causal connection between their act and the socially dangerous consequences that have occurred.
Judicial practice under Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
Determination of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated 07/08/2021 N 1373-O
The criminal law establishes a system of special norms aimed at ensuring safety in certain areas of life, characterized by increased requirements for the behavior of subjects (in particular, articles 143, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 236, 247, 263, 264, 268, 350 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In such relations, their participants act as special subjects called upon to comply with a set of rules that ensure both individual safety and the general security of life and health of a wide (indefinite) circle of people. Failure to comply (violate) the requirements of special norms in itself creates a danger of causing harm to the life and health of people and other objects of criminal legal protection.
Cassation ruling of the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated July 29, 2021 N 29-UD21-1-K1
convicted under Part 2 of Art. 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the basis of Art. of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to 1 year of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of 1 year. By an appeal ruling of the Penza Regional Court dated March 4, 2022, the sentence was left unchanged.
Determination of the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated August 30, 2021 N 45-KG21-15-K7
Upon the death of Safiullin T.K. An investigator of the investigative department of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Sverdlovsk region in the Leninsky district of Yekaterinburg conducted an inspection, as a result of which on October 27, 2022, a decision was made to refuse to initiate a criminal case on the grounds of crimes provided for in articles 105, 107 - 110, part four of article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder, causing death by negligence), according to paragraph 1 of part one of article 24 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (due to the absence of a crime); in relation to Mochalova O.A. on the grounds of a crime provided for in Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of labor protection requirements) - on the basis of paragraph 2 of part one of Article 24 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (due to the absence of corpus delicti in the act).
Determination of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated December 14, 2021 N 2649-O
3. The criminal law has a system of special norms aimed at ensuring safety in certain areas of life, characterized by increased requirements for the behavior of subjects (in particular, articles 143, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 236, 247, 263, 264, 268 and 350 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In such relations, their participants act as special subjects called upon to comply with a set of rules that ensure both individual safety and the general security of life and health of a wide range of people. Violation of the requirements of special norms in itself creates a danger of harm to life and health, and other objects of criminal legal protection (Determination of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of July 8, 2022 N 1373-O). At the same time, liability for careless causing of death is provided both in the general rule, which is Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and in special rules on liability for violation of rules aimed at reducing the risks of a particular type of activity, including rules ensuring labor protection for workers, industrial safety of hazardous production facilities or safety of construction and other potentially hazardous work (Articles 143, 216 and 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated November 29, 2018 N 41
In order to ensure uniform application by courts of criminal legislation on liability for violations of labor protection requirements, safety rules during construction or other work, or industrial safety requirements for hazardous production facilities (Articles 143, 216 and 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), as well as in connection with issues arising from the courts, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, guided by Article 126 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Articles 2 and 5 of the Federal Constitutional Law of February 5, 2014 No. 3-FKZ “On the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation,” decides to give the following clarifications:
Determination of the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated October 28, 2019 N 53-КГ19-6
By the resolution of the senior investigator of the Irbeysky interdistrict investigative department of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Krasnoyarsk Territory dated November 10, 2022, it was refused to initiate a criminal case against the electrician of Irbeysky Razrez LLC Alekseenko A.N. and excavator operator at Irbeysky Razrez LLC Gubaidulina R.A. due to the lack of corpus delicti in their actions as provided for in Part 2 of Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of labor protection requirements committed by a person charged with the responsibility for their compliance, resulting in the death of a person through negligence).
Determination of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated December 28, 2021 N 2727-O
According to the presented materials, the court of first instance, having considered the criminal case in which R.V. Anokhina was recognized as a victim in connection with the death of her husband, citizen A., and citizen P. was accused of committing a crime under part two of Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and a guilty verdict was imposed, assigning the defendant three years of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of three years. After the verdict was pronounced, an internal review of the circumstances of its proclamation was carried out, which did not establish any violations and did not recognize as reliable the victim’s statement that P. was given an additional punishment. The appeal decision reduced the punishment to two years and six months of suspended imprisonment, since A’s negligent behavior was recognized as a mitigating circumstance. Based on the results of the cassation appeal, these decisions were left unchanged.
SUBJECTIVE SIDE OF CRIME
The subjective side of the crime is characterized only by a careless form of guilt in the form of frivolity or negligence. The culprit, violating labor safety requirements, foresees that thereby he could cause harm to health or death, but without sufficient grounds for this he expects to prevent these consequences (frivolity) or does not foresee the possibility of the occurrence of these consequences, but should have and could have foreseen (negligence) . In the case where the intent of the perpetrator was aimed at achieving a criminal result, and the method of implementing such intent was a violation of labor protection and work safety rules, the act must be qualified under the relevant article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for liability for committing an intentional crime. If the perpetrator, by violating these requirements, pursued the goal of causing certain consequences, and his attitude towards the occurrence of other consequences was in the form of careless guilt, the act should be classified according to the totality of crimes committed intentionally and through negligence (Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR dated April 23, 1991 No. No. 1 “On judicial practice in cases of violations of labor protection and safety rules during mining, construction or other work” (as amended on December 21, 1993) // Collection of decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. M.: Legal literature , 1994).
Death of a Man
Article 143 (Part 2) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation indicates possible penalties imposed for violation of established labor protection measures. But only in the case where negligence led to the death of one person.
In this case, there are only two measures: forced labor and imprisonment. Moreover, social labor is assigned in practice very rarely. And it can last a maximum of 4 years.
But imprisonment is considered the best solution. It is the most serious punishment for criminal offenses. And even more so for the death of an innocent person. Imprisonment, according to the law, for violation of labor protection, accompanied by the death of one person, is 48 months. As an additional measure, there is a ban on working in certain positions and in certain specific areas of activity for 3 years.
SPECIAL SUBJECT OF CRIME
A special subject of a crime is a person who, by virtue of their official position or by special order, is directly entrusted with the obligation to ensure compliance with labor protection requirements in a certain area of work, as well as heads of enterprises and organizations, their deputies, chief engineers, chief specialists of enterprises, if they did not take measures to eliminate violations of labor safety requirements known to them, or gave instructions that contradict these rules, or, having taken on direct management of certain types of work, did not ensure compliance with the same rules. In other cases, officials guilty of improper performance of their official duties to ensure safe working conditions may be held liable for malfeasance (for example, for failure to take measures to develop appropriate instructions, to create conditions for compliance with labor safety rules and regulations, to implement proper monitoring their compliance). At the same time, the subjects of these crimes can be citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens, as well as stateless persons. If a violation of labor safety rules and regulations was committed by an employee who was not a person specified in Art. 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and entailed the consequences listed in this article, the act should be considered as a crime against the person, regardless of whether the victim is related to this proceeding or not. Source: Commentary on the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: in 2 volumes (article-by-article) / A.V. Brilliantov, G.D. Dolzhenkova, E.N. Zhevlakov and others; edited by A.V. Brilliantova. 2nd ed. M.: Prospekt, 2015. T. 1. 792 p.
Liberty
The most serious punishment in the entire Criminal Code is considered an infringement on human freedom. It can be expressed in various forms: arrest, imprisonment or probation. Moreover, many people are afraid of prison. This serves as an excellent motivation for “educating” the population.
Therefore, violation of labor safety standards is punishable by imprisonment. Or rather, imprisonment. It can last up to 12 months. Only the article also states that under certain circumstances (or rather, at the discretion of the judiciary), in addition to imprisonment, another measure of punishment for the offender is imposed.
Namely, deprivation of the right to engage in a certain type of activity, as well as imposing restrictions on certain work positions. Typically, this supplement lasts up to 1 year. And nothing more. It’s not too scary, but certain problems will arise with employment.
Mass death
Of particular interest are the verdicts under Article 143 p3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The point is that this part specifies penalties for violation of labor safety standards, which resulted in the death of several people through negligence.
What to do in this case? In such circumstances, the penalties are exactly the same as in the previous case. Namely, forced labor or imprisonment. And as a bonus to imprisonment - the imposition of bans on activities in certain areas. Only the length of punishment will increase by several years.
So, for example, work and imprisonment can reach a maximum of 5 years. And the taboo, if there is one, limits the offender from working for only 36 months. It would seem that this is not a very serious punishment. Especially forced labor. Only in reality, in case of violations of labor protection, as well as in case of mass death as a result of this act, imprisonment is prescribed.
