Social Guarantees and Occupational Risks: Assessing the Effectiveness of the Current Model in Kazakhstan
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: In this article the author provides the results of an empirical study that covers the system of social guarantees for employees who work in dangerous and difficult environments in the Republic of Kazakhstan from 2000 - 2025. By using data from the Taldau database and official annual reports about working conditions, the study identifies a consistent contradiction in the data. For the period between 2000 and 2023, the number of employees who receive at least one benefit is 1.70 - 1.92 times higher than the number of people who work in places that fail to meet health and safety requirements. In 2023 the difference between those two groups is 287 000 people. At the same time the number of individuals who work in environments that are not compliant with hygiene standards is 87.2% higher than it was previously, as the total rose from 219 200 - 410 300. Because of this change, the portion of the workers is 24.2% of the total, whereas it was 18.0% before. There are multiple industries where the presence of work related risks is high. To illustrate 75.6% of employees in the coal industry work in environments that are not compliant with hygiene standards. And 53.3% of workers in metal ore mining are in similar conditions. As a result the figure for the mining industry as a whole is 53.0%. The total costs incurred by enterprises for benefits and compensation rose from 7.9 billion tenge (2000) to 518.0 billion tenge (2025), with compensation measures consistently dominating over preventive measures. The necessity of transitioning from a list-based approach to a system of occupational risk assessment as the sole basis for providing social guarantees is justified, as is the introduction of a differentiated scale of guarantees based on the degree of occupational risk and a system of insurance contributions differentiated by the degree of occupational risk, which creates an economic incentive for employers to improve working conditions.
Source: Экономика бизнес и услуги
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7224547484