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