The increase in work-related illnesses in Sverdlovsk Region came to 23% in 2011 against 2010. For one, 714 cases of illnesses and poisonings were registered over those twelve months, Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor reports. The most common illnesses (78%) are those related to respiratory system disorders, followed by those of the musculo-skeletal system (8%), the pneumatic hammer disease (5%), radiculopathy (2%), neoplasms (2%), acoustic organs disorders (2%), and skin and vision organs disorders (1%). Pneumoconiosis, musculo-skeletal system disorders, and noise-generated

Russia’s Roscomnadzor asked the companies that deal in offering discount services online to provide reports on how they ensure personal data protection, the agency’s website states. As the media carried a lot of announcements recently on how the information databases with personal data of discount services and online shops customers are available for sale (according to a number of online ads), Roscomnadzor decided it was necessary to gain some control over the situation. The agency, which is an authorized body for the protection of subjects’ personal details, sent queries to eight companies

Pervouralsk Metallurgical College stopped accepting applications from the potential day-time students. Metal Working Process (the major specialization of the Future of the White Metallurgy Program) proved the most popular specialization, with 16 people competing for one student slot, ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant reports. The highly skilled experts get trained on a basis of a dual education system. Last year, five applicants competed for one position. This year, the college processed 600 applications from 9th and 11th year high school students for 150 budget-funded student slots.

OOO Nordea Bank was fined for violating the advertising legislation; administrative action was taken when the bank failed to provide information on mortgage terms in an ad, the press office of Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service reports. Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service declared Nordea Bank guilty of an administrative offense on August 1, 2012. On July 20, 2012, the division declared that the mortgage advertisement (offering interest rates starting from 9.95% a year) that Nordea Bank launched online via the website www.e1.ru

The former Director-General and BOD Chairman of Kushva Mechano-Electrical Plant is accused of withholding money meant for tax payment (the charges are based on Article 199.2 of Russia’s Criminal Code). The criminal case involving the 64-year-old former executive was handled by Kushva Interdepartmental Investigative Division of Russia’s Investigative Committee in Sverdlovsk Region. According to the inquiry team, the accused, who was the plant’s director at the time, withheld over 20m RUR worth of tax payments between January 2009 and March 2010. Yet the company owed the budget over 23m RUR in

The amount of ferrous metals shipments at Russian Railways network has gone down by 0.9% in the seven months of 2012 compared with the seven month of 2011 and reached 53.6m tons. All in all, the domestic shipments of ferrous metals around Russia declined by 3.7% in January-July 2012, and came to 29.5m tons. The international shipments rose by 2.8% and came to 24.1m tons; this included seaport shipments (up 0.3%, 14.1m tons) and border-crossing point shipments (up 6.7%, 9.98m tons). However, import shipments decreased by 16.4%, down to 4.1m tons, while export shipments rose by 6.9%, up to

Enel OGK-5’s Sredneuralsk Power Station will stop supplying hot water to Yekaterinburg because OOO STK still has not started paying off its debts. ‘Under the agreement with Sverdlovsk Region Energy Ministry, Enel OGK-5’s Sredneuralsk Power Station resumed hot water supply to OOO STK under the condition that the latter would pay off 50% of its debt to Enel OGK-5 for the years 2011-2012 by August 7. No payments were made to Enel OGK-5 on August 1-8 inclusively. As STK failed to meet the terms of the agreements, Sredneuralsk Power Station was forced to set some limits on its hot water supply to

Oktyabrsky District Court partially sustained the claim of Trust National Bank’s customer and declared the bank’s charging a one-time fee for the transfer of a loan into a bank account (the fee came to 2,490 RUR) and a monthly fee for the servicing of the loan (o.99% of the loan sum) was illegitimate, the press service of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor reports. The customer signed a loan contract with Trust; under the terms of the contract, the bank promised to give her 499,990 RUR for sixty months under an 18% annual interest rate; the borrowing party had to pay the fees for

Three men aged between 29 and 55 were killed at the construction site for the 4th power generating unit of Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Station within the last five days, the press office of Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Investigative Committee reports. Asbest Interdepartmental Investigative Division of Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Investigative Committee is now handling the pre-investigation check. It has been determined by now that the men fell from some height. The victims were busy with some building jobs for the 4th power generating unit of Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power

A large-scale clean-up was organized in Pionersky Square with support from Nizhniy Tagil Council. Over 70 employees of Uralvagonzavod Scientific Production Corporation took part in the event. For two days, the workers picked up all the litter, mowed the lawns, and painted the benches. All the costs related to the organization and coordination of the clean-up were covered by the plant’s trade union committee. Such jobs aimed at the reclamation of Pionersky Square are expected to continue. Within two weeks, new benches and trash bins will be installed along the pedestrian walks, and the

Yekaterinburg branch of Svyaz-Bank offered OAO Uralkhimplast some financing in the form of two revolving credit lines. 250m RUR will be issued within the current limit. What is more, a new, 100m-RUR line will be opened. The loan period comes to 1.5 years, the bank’s press service reports. The funding is expected to be used for replenishing the company’s working capital.

Uralvagonzavod Scientific Production Corporation signed a contract with Saint Petersburg-based OOO OMZ-Spetsstal for the delivery of 188 tons of flat stock made of special brands of steel, Uralvagonzavod’s corporate website states. This flat stock will be used for making special vehicles with the greatest potential.

RusLine Airlines has delayed 12.4% of its flights since the beginning of the year. This is the highest figure among all the Russian air carriers, the Association of Russian Tour Operators’ press service refers to Rosaviation as saying. The company is followed by Bashkortostan, which delayed 10.7% of its flights, and NordWind (8.7%), the third most ‘impolite’ airline. RusLine also set a dubious record in terms of the number of flights delayed by over six hours (3.74%). In the first half of the year, the percentage of delayed flights operated by all the air carriers in the rating came to 3.8%,

The cold-roll Mill 2000 of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has reached its maximum production output since the moment it was launched. When Mill 2000 and the continuous etching line were launched in July 2011, the first stage of the construction of a cold-roll facility that is currently unique to the Russian metallurgical industry was complete. This July, the second stage of the construction was finished. The facility’s overall capacity comes to 2m tons of produce a year. The facility is meant for making cold-rolled and galvanized products for the automobile industry, white goods

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court made Pyshma Dairy Plant face administrative liability for the violation of technical rules regarding the production of milk and dairy foods and imposed a 100,000-ruble fine on the company, the press office of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor reports. Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor conducted a scheduled on-site inspection of the plant. Experts from the surveillance agency examined the production shop, the production lab, and the well. It was determined that the technical rules of milk and dairy foods production were violated: a

Sverdlovsk Region dwellers keep complaining to Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor about the poor quality of communal housing utilities services, the press office of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor reports. As for Yekaterinburg, most complaints have to do with SverdlovEnergoSbyt, Standard Management Company, Verkh-Isetskaya Management Company, UZhK Ural-ST, Oktyabrsky District Communal Housing Services Management Company, Fond Radomir, Zheleznodorozhny District REMP Management Company, REMP Elmash Management Company, Ordzhonikidzevsky District Housing Management

Sinara Pipe Plant (a part of Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK) shipped the first batches of its new product – coiled tubing – to Podolsk-based EnergoTechProm and Krasny Kotelschik Taganrog Boiler-Making Plant, the company’s press service reports. The experimental site for making the coiled tubing meant for the nuclear industry, machine-building, and the fuel and energy complex, was launched at the company’s pipe-drawing department 2 in April 2012. The project was implemented within the company’s strategic development program aimed at expanding the range of cold-worked tube products. The new

The public prosecution authorities of Yekaterinburg’s Kirovsky District detected some violations of the federal legislation at Institute of Metal Physics of the Ural Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The authorities looked in the organization’s compliance with the Federal Law 94-FZ On Placing Government and Municipal Orders for Goods Shipments, Execution of Work, and Rendering of Services and at its compliance with the law on the legitimacy and efficiency of federal property management and making sure these assets are kept safe and used properly. The investigation revealed that the

The meat and milk production went up in Sverdlovsk Region. The local farmers increased their milk production by 9% and their meat output by 6% against a year earlier, the region’s Agro-industry Ministry reports. ‘This means the agriculture is doing well in the region, it gets the timely and good quality subsidies from the regional and the federal budgets,’ says Minister Mikhail Kopytov. Thanks to this, the region can afford to keep the local food prices stable. According to the data gathered in the course of the weekly monitoring by the ministry, the wholesale beef prices have gone down by 4%

In July, the life satisfaction level of Russian citizens dropped by 2% on the previous month and came to 85%, Rosgosstrakh’s Strategic Research Center says. As for certain categories of people, the life satisfaction level of some executives in managerial positions and their deputies, as well as of business proprietors and co-proprietors came to 90% in July and to 91% in June. Among those well-off consumers who can afford to buy a new house or a flat, life satisfaction level comes to 100% against 98% in June. Moscow and Saint Petersburg residents’ life satisfaction level is the highest and