Aggravating circumstances of violating labor protection requirements (art. 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)

The article deals with the legislative differentiation of criminal responsibility for violating labor protection requirements (art. 143 of the Criminal Code) depending on the consequences occurred. 
The author outlines the historical aspects of legislating the aggravating circumstances for violating labor protection requirements. The legal description of the disposition of Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the part concerning the dispositions of related crimes with such a description is compared with other crimes against the labor rights of citizens. The opinions of scholars/ scientists regarding the need to increase the level of criminal law protection of safe labor are analyzed. Justifying the increased degree of public danger in committing the relevant act with concomitant deliberate or repeated violation of the established requirements, the occurrence of consequences in the form of causing serious harm to the health of two or more persons, as well as other severe consequences, the author identifies the problem of downplaying the significance of criminal legal protection of safe labor at the present stage. 
Gaps in the legislative regulation of some qualifying aggravating circumstances and the lack of consideration in the law of the degree of public danger in case of deliberate or repeated violation of labor protection requirements are pointed out. Taking into account the fact that aggravating circumstances are essential the significance of aggravating circumstances for qualifying a crime, affecting the degree of guilt and the danger of a crime or the responsibility of the perpetrator, the author underlines the importance of improving the criminal law in the relevant part.