The Chamber supports proposals to simplify the Occupational Health and Safety Act and reduce the administrative burden on businesses

Several of the amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act proposed by the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (the Chamber), which are aimed at simplifying workplace rules, reducing bureaucracy and clarifying employer liability, have been included in the draft Act prepared by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. In its opinion submitted to the Ministry, the Chamber supported the changes planned in the draft and submitted several additional proposals on how to make the Act even more business-friendly.

What are the main changes and which of the Chamber’s proposals have made it into the draft?

In April, the Chamber sent the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications 30 proposals to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act with a view to reducing bureaucracy. The Ministry has now prepared a draft Act amending the Occupational Health and Safety Act that includes several of the Chamber’s proposals.

Below are the various changes and simplifications proposed by the Chamber that have been included in the draft.

Under the draft, the Occupational Health and Safety Act will no longer apply in full to companies where the sole shareholder, the only member of the management board and the only employee of the private limited company are one and the same person. As an exception, certain requirements will remain applicable, for example the obligation to ensure, in every work situation, that work equipment, personal protective equipment and other devices are in good order and used properly; where employees of at least two employers work at the same workplace at the same time, the employers must coordinate their activities to avoid dangerous situations; and the employer must pay compensation to the employee in the event of illness, injury or quarantine. The current Act does not provide for such an exception. The Chamber had proposed that in a company with one employee, health checks and the drawing up of safety instructions should not be mandatory.

At the Chamber’s proposal, the obligation to carry out internal control of the working environment will be abolished. Under the current law, the employer is required to perform systematic internal control of the working environment, during which the occupational health and safety situation in the company is planned, organised and monitored. The employer is also required to review the organisation of internal control each year and analyse its results.

The draft includes the Chamber’s proposal to extend the time limit for the first health check. In the future, the employer must arrange a health check for the employee within six months of the employee taking up work, instead of within four months as currently required.

At the Chamber’s proposal, the requirements for analysing the occupational health situation have been relaxed. Under the amendments proposed in the draft, the employer will not have to arrange an analysis of the occupational health situation if the company permanently employs fewer than ten employees. Under the current Act, all companies must do this.

As a result of the Chamber’s amendment proposals, the rules for appointing a first aider have been simplified. Under the planned changes, the employer will not have to appoint a first aider if the company’s employees work alone, or if employers operating in a shared working environment agree on a joint first aid organisation. In addition, healthcare service providers will no longer be required to appoint a first aider. Under the current law, the employer must appoint at least one first aider from among the employees, taking into account the number of employees, the frequency of health damage, the regional distribution of the company and the nature of its activities.

The draft also includes the Chamber’s proposals to make the position of working environment representative and the working environment council voluntary. Under the proposed amendments, the employer must organise the election of a working environment representative if at least ten per cent of the employees of the company, its structural unit or shift express a wish to elect a representative. In the future, a working environment council will be established at the employer’s initiative or if at least 10% of the company’s employees request it.

Further proposals made by the Chamber in its opinion to the Ministry
In its opinion submitted to the Ministry, the Chamber presented several additional proposals on how to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act:

• To clarify in the draft Act that the employer has the right to check for alcohol, narcotic or toxic intoxication, or being under the influence of a psychotropic substance, also in respect of employees of subcontractors and contracting partners who come into contact with a major source of danger or who work in an area related to major sources of danger.
• Safety instructions should be required only if the equipment poses a real risk to the employee. Widely used tools that are also used, for example, in the home environment should not require safety instructions.
• To establish in the Act the possibility of recognising external certificates for first aid training. For example, where an employee already has a valid first aid certificate (for instance obtained from another accredited training, such as a driving school or voluntary training).
• The obligation to provide information and training regarding dangerous chemicals should not apply where the employee uses household chemicals or chemicals in very small quantities in the course of work.
• For low-risk workplaces (such as office work), the current requirement to carry out a risk assessment should be abolished and, instead, companies could be given a specific list of obligations that the employer must fulfil to ensure safety in the working environment, and, where necessary, confirm that those obligations have been met.
• Companies belonging to the same group, which are physically located on the same premises and where employees work on the same premises, should be allowed to use the same risk assessment, as the risk factors in the working environment are the same and drawing up separate risk assessments would be burdensome and unreasonable for the employer.
• A risk assessment should not be required in the case of working from a home office.
• The employer should have the possibility, where the risk factors in the working environment are relatively simple (for example for office workers), to send the employee for a health check to the employee’s family physician (in the course of a regular visit).
• The employer should not be obliged to send an employee to an occupational health physician for a health check if the employee’s main job is with another company.

The planned amendments will enter into force under the general procedure, i.e. on the tenth day following their publication in the Riigi Teataja. As the draft is still in the coordination procedure, it is not yet known when the amendments will enter into force.