Social Partners involvement in National OSH Strategies Panel 2 Michaela Seifert 4th ACSH Workshop on National OSH Strategies, 15/16 Oct. 2018

Social Partners involvement in National OSH Strategies (I) The mapping of national OSH strategies shows that there are different approaches in the EU as regards the involvement of Social Partners (SP) in national strategies The majority of the EU Member States involve the SP in the design, implementation and evaluation of the national OSH strategy Mostly SP from national level, in some Member States also SP from regional level But there are some countries where SP are not involved There are differences in the degree and “institutionalisation” of the process of SP’ involvement - by law (Germany, Spain), agreements, official documents, etc This variety of approaches/specifities of some Member States can be illustrated through a selection of different models of SP involvement

Social Partners involvement in National OSH Strategies – Strategy Design In most countries the objectives/priorities of the strategy are discussed with the SP – it varies from discussion/consultation to unanimous agreement In some countries concrete actions for the SP are included into the strategy/action plans and/or the strategy is signed by the SP; in other countries there is no special commitment in the strategy itself regarding the SP’s tasks In some Member States the process is very much “institutionalised” e.g. Germany: NAK (National OSH Conference) which is established by law - its the central decision-making body of the joint national OSH strategy (plans, coordinates and evaluates), governmental representatives (State, Laender) and accident insurance institutions; social partners have advisory function – foreseen in the Occupational Safety Act – working parties Spain: National Commission for OSH (CNSST) – tripartite, agrees on strategy’s objectives, working groups, consensus based

Social Partners involvement in National OSH Strategies – Strategy Design Slovenia: Economic and Social Council/National Council on OSH – tripartite, SP are members of the advisory bodies – SP comments on strategy proposal Finland: Advisory Committee (tripartite, discussions in meetings and workshops), consensus based Sweden: government invites SP to discuss and contribute to the national strategy In some countries the strategy objectives were complemented by additional agreements with SP or the objectives of the strategy were revised with SP involvement in the strategy document itself so as to align the strategy to new challenges.

Social Partners involvement in National OSH Strategies – Implementation of the Strategy In most countries the SP are involved in the implementation Germany: SP are involved in the drafting of national guidelines for the implementation of the strategies’ objectives Finland: Implementation/Action Plans meetings with SP, agreement on concrete actions for SP to better reach workplaces; Centre for Occupational Safety organizes training for workplaces (established by SP), workshops Spain: National Commission for OSH (CNSST, tripartite) approves 2 years’ national implementation action plans, contains concrete actions for SP to reinforce the engagement of SP at company and sectoral level Slovenia Chapter 5 of strategy contains measures to promote Social Dialogue in the field of OSH; SP involvement in the drafting of 3 years’ action plans within Economic and Social Council and National Council on OSH, comments were integrated Sweden: e.g. communication agencies owned by the SP have published a number of OSH tools on their websites Romania: concrete action for SP: national campaign of SP for awareness raising on the risks the vulnerable groups; organisation of a national tripartite OSH Committee to improve the coordination, etc.

Social Partners involvement in National OSH Strategies – Evaluation of the Strategy In most countries the SP are involved in the evaluation but the ways in which this is done vary: Sweden: Social Dialogue Forum: tripartite, government and SP at national level meets 3x/year  new authority to be set up “Agency for Work Environment Knowledge” (evaluation by independent researcher in consultation with SP) Germany: working party evaluation - university carries out independent scientific evaluation of the strategy Slovenia: no formal evaluation foreseen in strategy itself but elements of action plans will be evaluated Finland: evaluation carried out by FIOH Spain: strategy implementation is assessed by working group of the tripartite National Commission for OSH (CNSST)

THANK YOU!