Comparison of Estonian and Finnish OSH legislations with regard to BOHS

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Comparison of Estonian and Finnish OSH
legislations with regard to BOHS

• Kari-Pekka Martimo
• PAA

16.2.2004
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General remarks

• E One Act on OHS from 1999
• E Act on OHS includes also regulations related
  to safety issues, OD/WRDs and their notification,
  OHC, registration of service providers

• F Separate Acts on Occupational Safety and OHS
• F Act on OHS originally from 1978 (renewed 2002)
  Act on OS originally from 1958 (renewed 2003)

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Contents of OHS by the Acts

• E risk assessments
• E medical examinations
• E organisation of medical rehabilitation
• E provision of advice to employers
• Adaptation of work
• Use of work equipment and personal protection
• E psychological counselling

• F workplace visits
• F medical examinations
• F making suggestions
• To both employers and employees
• F provision of information, incl. assessment of
  work load
• F support to disabled workers
• F collaboration
• F help to organise first aid
• F assisting in work place health promotion
• F assessing quality and outcome

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Basic OHS

• Surveillance of work environments
• Risk assessment
• Surveillance of health
• Proposing preventive and control actions
• Diagnostics of occupational diseases
• Providing first aid
• Providing GP level health service (where
  appropriate)

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Surveillance of work environments

• E Related only to the possibility of making risk
  assessment

• F Duty of OHS to perform repeated workplace
  visits in order to be organized and implemented
  to the extent required by work, work
  arrangements, personnel and workplace conditions,
  and any changes in these

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Risk assessment

• E Obligation of the employer to conduct internal
  controls of work environment and to prepare a
  written action plan
• E OHS provider may conduct risk assessments incl.
  measurements

• F Obligation of OHS to investigate and assess
  healthiness and safety of work and work
  conditions having regard to exposure substances,
  workload, work arrangements, risk of accidents
  and violence

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Surveillance of health

• E Employer is required to organise medical
  examinations if workers health may be affected
  by risk factors of the work environment or the
  nature of work, and bear the costs (into force
  1.7.2003)
• E Possibility/right of OHS to perform
  examinations
• E Decree on health exams

• F Obligation of OHS to investigate, assess and
  monitor work-related health risks and problems,
  employees health, work ability and functional
  capacity
• F Also at different stages of an illness
• F Decree on health exams in work with special
  risks

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Preventive and control actions

• E Employer is responsible to transfer worker to
  another position at his request and on the
  decision of a doctor
• E Possibility of OHS to organise medical
  rehabilitation, and to advice employers on
  adaptation of work, use of protection, and
  improvement of working conditions

• F OHS make suggestions for actions to improve
  healthiness and safety at work, to adapt work to
  needs of employee if necessary, to maintain and
  promote work ability and functional capacity

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Diagnostics of occupational diseases

• E Employees right to receive compensation for
  health damage caused by work (procedure
  established by the Government 1992)
• E Definitions and duties related to OD and WRD,
  and the obligation of OHPs to make the diagnosis
• E List of ODs two notification systems

• F Act and Decree on Occupational Diseases
• F Act on Insurance of Occupational Diseases and
  Accidents
• F Employer may organize medical treatment and
  other health care services for employees
• F One notification system

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Providing first aid

• E Employer responsible for arranging training on
  first aid and access to first aid equipment
• E Not listed in the possibilities of OHS

• F OHS include also participation in organizing
  first aid

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GP level health service

• E Duty of OPs to examine and diagnose ODs and
  WRDs, but not included in the list of OHS and
  nothing about compensation
• E Curative care not mentioned in the Act

• F Employer may organize medical treatment and
  other health care services for employees
• F Reimbursement from Social Insurance Institution

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Basic OHS

• Work life will need OHS more than ever
• Full coverage of services infrastructures need to
  be organized (OHS for all!)
• Appropriate content and competence of OHS need to
  be ensured (to meet the needs of work life)
• Sufficient numbers of expert human resources are
  needed and their training be organized to meet
  the needs of work life

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Basic OHS

• New service provision models are needed
  (fragmentation)
• Multidisciplinary, comprehensive content and
  approach are inevitable
• OHS have been found productive in the view of
  health, work ability and enterprise as well as in
  the view of national economy

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Customer needs of OHS

• Society
• Coverage
• Contents
• Costs
• Effectiveness
• Individual and organisational customer
• Availability
• Participation
• Confidentiality
• Benefits

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Coverage / Availability

• E Employer is required to organise the provision
  of OHS and bear the costs related to them (into
  force 1.7.2003)
• E Two models legal person or self- employed
  OHS provider
• E Enforcement by Labour Inspectorate

• F Compulsory to all employers
• F Four models to arrange OHS
• F Written agreement and action plan required and
  available to all employees
• F Enforcement by Labour Inspectorate

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Multidisciplinarity

• E OHS mean performance of duties by OH
  physicians, OH nurses, occupational hygienists,
  occupational psychologists OR ergonomists

• F Included in Good Occupational Health Practice
  defined in the Act
• F OH professionals (physician and nurse) AND
  experts (hygienist, physiotherapist, psychologist)

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Quality

• E Regulation No 144 of MoSA
• Quality system by 31.12.2004
• Patient satisfaction
• Management of risks
• Professional quality
• Organisational Quality
• Supplementary training

• F OHS obligated to assess and monitor quality of
  activities (incl. customer satisfaction)
• F Decree on GOHP
• Principles of GOHP
• Contents of OHS
• Qualifications

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Effectiveness

• E Act on OHS
• Aim of OHS to contribute to the development of a
  safe work environment, to prevent WRDs, and to
  preserve and promote health and work ability of
  workers
• E Regulation No 144 of MoSA
• Customer satisfaction
• Customer complaints
• Complications

• F Act on OHS
• Obligation to assess and monitor the impact of
  activities
• F Decree on GOHP
• Impact of measures taken on work environment and
  work community
• Employee exposure, accidents and ODs
• Health, work ability and sickness absenteeism
• Working methods of OHS
• Implementation of suggestions made by OHS

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Group discussions

• The tasks of the groups 
• to identify the strengths, weaknesses,
  opportunities and threats of OSH in Estonia (SWOT
  analysis)
• to suggest ways to eliminate the obstacles to
  BOSH
• to name the main actors in the field
• to draw up a list of priorities
• to present a plan of actions to be taken in the
  near future
• to discuss the role of OHC in the process

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Group discussions

• Aims of the group discussion
• To assist in making the analysis of OHS in
  Estonia
• To give material for the final report of the
  twinning project
• To make suggestions to Estonian government and
  European Union
• To support the future role of OHC

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Group discussions

• The topics and the rapporteurs of the groups 
• Legislation - Tiit Kaadu
• Infrastructure - Urmas Krass
• Personnel and training - Ahe Vilkis
• OHS processes - Ülle Sarap
• Customers, information - Eva Tammaru

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SWOT -analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
Internal
Threats
Opportunities
External
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SWOT -analysis

• How to use the strengths to achieve the
  opportunities?
• How to improve the weaknesses to achieve the
  opportunities?
• How to develop the strengths to minimize the
  threats?
• How to avoid weaknesses from realizing the
  threats?