Occupational health and safety

What it means

Occupational health and safety is the employer’s duty set: risk assessment, induction and refresher training, protective equipment, occupational health services and an accident register.

The duties start with the first employee and apply to non-employment agreements too. The scope varies with the risk of the work, but an office is no exception: training and a risk assessment are due there as well.

The core of health and safety is the risk assessment: for each activity you set out what can cause harm, how likely and how serious it is, and which measure reduces it. It often takes the form of a risk matrix. Fire protection is a separate matter with its own legislation and paperwork, even though the same technician often handles both.

How it works in practice

Most companies buy in an external safety officer who keeps the documentation and runs the training. The monthly cost is small, but it is among the first things a labour inspector asks to see.

The documentation is updated when technology, premises or home working arrangements change. A folder from the founding year listing people who left long ago is not compliance.

When someone new starts, the induction safety training sits on the same checklist as registration with the insurers and, for riskier work, a medical check. The signed training record goes into the personnel file and should exist before the employee first sets foot on site, not a month later.

What to watch out for

After a workplace accident with no valid training on file the employer carries full liability, and the Social Insurance Agency can reclaim the benefits it paid out.

Protective equipment is issued according to a list the employer draws up from the risk assessment. Clothing or footwear bought without such a list can be challenged by the tax office as a deductible expense and treated as a benefit in kind for the employee, with tax and contributions.