Preliminary communication

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY ACT - DE LEGE FERENDA PROPOSALS

Svjetlana Šokčević ; Sindikat tekstila, obuće, kože, gume Hrvatske, Zagreb, Hrvatska

Abstract

The intention of the paper is to direct the attention of the law-makers and other parties at different levels of occupational safety and social dialogue on occupational safety in the Republic of Croatia to the fact that Croatian legislation governing the right to occupational safety is still not harmonized with that of the EU. This results in the fact that employees still cannot exercise the rights to which they are entitled by EU legislation in the field of health and safety at work. Inconsistent interpretation of the term occupational health from Convention 155 of the International Labour Organization which includes both the physical and the mental components has resulted in a 16-year-long effort to call attention to the strains and psycho-social risks at work. Oddly, the Occupational Safety Act has in this period been amended three times. The consequence is a missing legal framework for employers, labour representatives, labour inspection bodies, occupational medicine and other participants involved. It is expected that the law-makers shall secure in the new Occupational Safety Act, currently in the process of adoption, full health and safety protection at work. Furthermore, support is expected from the social partners in the Republic of Croatia in response to the achievements of the EU social partners in the field of employee protection from stress risks at work, violence and other forms of mobbing which include strains of monotonous work, work evaluated in terms of efficiency, time pressure, enforced pace and other types of work involving static and dynamic strain. The author proposes that the law-makers break the silence surrounding the issue of (non)use of video surveillance at the workplace and clearly set out the rights, obligations and responsibilities in this respect, not only in individual labour contracts but also in collective agreements. She proposes that employers be obligated and employees’ representatives entitled to make joint decisions regarding the use of video surveillance, as it is a matter of gathering and using information on employees.

Keywords

health at work; psycho-social risks; stress; mobbing; violence; work strains; video surveillance

Hrčak ID:

79184

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/79184

Publication date:

30.3.2012.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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