Occupational Safety in the Context of Kazakhstan’s Strategic Course toward Digitalization: International-Law Foundations and Prospects for the Implementation of the Right to Disconnect.

https://www.doi.org/10.32523/2791-0954-2025-15-3-8-17

Abstract

Considering Kazakhstan’s strategic course toward digitalization and its impact on the labour market, this article emphasizes the need to adapt the national occupational safety system to new forms of employment and emerging risks associated with digital transformation. Special attention is devoted to the analysis of the “right to disconnect” as a modern element of occupational safety in the digital era, ensuring a balance between work responsibilities and personal time. The paper examines international approaches and the positions of intergovernmental bodies on this right, revealing its importance for protecting workers’ physical and mental health. Consequently, the article substantiates the necessity of incorporating the right to disconnect into the Labour Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a mechanism for fulfilling the state’s international obligations and preventing new occupational risks linked to digitalization. To assess potential pathways for such legislative inclusion, the experience of France, Portugal, Italy, Luxembourg, and Australia-where the right to disconnect has already been legally recognized-is analyzed.