Time to act for occupa­tional safety

An impor­tant part of Finnish working life are the occupa­tional health and safety repre­sen­ta­tives – työsuo­je­lu­val­tuu­tettu in Finnish. These are people who are elected to repre­sent the emplo­yees in matters concer­ning health and safety issues at the working place.

13.10.2021

Coope­ra­tion on occupa­tional health and safety (OHS) is based on law and written into the agree­ments between labour market organisations.

At workplaces with at least 10 regular emplo­yees, an OHS repre­sen­ta­tive and two deputies must be elected. Att workplaces with at least 20 emplo­yees, OHS commit­tees must also be established.

All these repre­sen­ta­tives are elected by a ballot. Everyone, who is employed on the date of the elections, has the right to vote. This also covers part-time and fixed-term emplo­yees and emplo­yees who have been tempo­ra­rily laid off or who are on parental leave.

Any employee can also stand as a candi­date. Detailed time limits for all the rules concer­ning elections are announced at the workplace. There must be at least seven days time to nominate the candidates.

In most workplaces, the elections take place in November or December. People elected usually serve a two-year term.

It is possible that salaried emplo­yees (white collar workers), covered by the collec­tive agree­ment for salaried emplo­yees, will elect their own OHS repre­sen­ta­tive and other emplo­yees (blue collar workers) their own.

At workplaces with at least 10 regular emplo­yees, an OHS repre­sen­ta­tive and two deputies must be elected.

Emplo­yers have a duty to facili­tate the elections. They shall distri­bute infor­ma­tion, provide premises for carrying out the election and organise the elections together with their emplo­yees. Local Union branches are usually active in this regard.

In many cases no ballot is needed, as there is only one candi­date for each task. This is called a consensus election and the election committee shall confirm the result.

Health and safety at work is a top priority. The task of the OHS repre­sen­ta­tive is an impor­tant one.

This person must familia­rise himself/​herself with and monitor matters concer­ning the safety and health of emplo­yees, know OHS provi­sions and report any shortco­mings and deficiencies detected to the manage­ment. Help from all emplo­yees is of vital importance.

When perfor­ming his or her duties, the OHS repre­sen­ta­tive has the right to get relevant infor­ma­tion from the employer and during this time be exempt from his or her regular tasks.

The OHS repre­sen­ta­tive has the right to suspend any work that involves immediate and serious danger. This must be reported without delay to the employer.

Like shop stewards, OHS repre­sen­ta­tives have strong protec­tion against dismissal. Defen­ding workers and their rights should not lead to problems for those working for the good of everyone.

TEXT HEIKKI JOKINEN