Occupational health and safety in the workplace – cooperation and collaboration

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the employer is responsible for the health and safety of their workers. In addition, supervisors are responsible for occupational health and safety in their area. The employer is also responsible for its supervisors’ competence in matters of occupational health and safety. 

Finally, occupational health and safety is part of industrial cooperation, meaning the employer manages health and safety with the workers’ representatives. 

Who participates in occupational health and safety cooperation?  

Each workplace has an occupational health and safety officer (työsuojelupäällikkö) responsible for cooperation, unless the employer handles the responsibility themselves. The health and safety officer must organise and maintain cooperation between the employer and their workers.  

Parties to cooperation in the workplace: 

• occupational health and safety officer appointed by the employer (or the employer themselves) 
• occupational health and safety representatives (työsuojeluvaltuutettu; one regular and their first and second substitute) chosen by the workers. 

Occupational health and safety officer 

The employer may appoint an occupational health and safety officer for each of their workplaces. If the employer does not appoint a health and safety officer, they must handle the responsibility themselves. The officer is responsible for taking all necessary measures to organise industrial cooperation and manage and develop the workplace’s health and safety operations. 

The officer appointed by the employer must be competent and qualified for the position. 

Occupational health and safety representatives 

Occupational health and safety representatives represent all workers in matters of health and safety. The regular and substitute representatives are chosen by the workers from among their number. If the regular representative is unavailable, the first or second substitute participates in their stead. 

The law requires occupational health and safety representatives to be elected for workplaces that regularly employ ten or more workers. Smaller workplaces can also have occupational health and safety representatives. Every worker has the right to become a candidate and vote for their workplace’s representative, regardless of whether they are union members or not. 

Read more about the rights and responsibilities of health and safety representatives and how the representatives are selected. 

The regulations of collective agreements and the related cooperation agreements differ somewhat on the structure and titles of the occupational health and safety organisation. Some industries allow the selection of occupational health and safety ombudsmen (työsuojeluasiamies) who communicate health and safety matters at their workplace. 

Occupational health and safety committee 

If a workplace has 20 or more workers, an occupational health and safety committee (työsuojelutoimikunta) must be formed by the employer and blue- and white-collar worker representatives. The committee is tasked with promoting health and safety in the workplace. The committee has four, eight, or 12 members, according to the size and circumstances of the workplace.  

The ratio of representatives must be 25 per cent for the employer and 75 per cent for the workers (blue- and white-collar). The committee’s structure is defined when the company’s occupational health and safety organisation is negotiated. The occupational health and safety officer and representatives are automatically members of the committee. Other members may be chosen by vote. 

It is important for every group of workers to feel represented in matters of health and safety. This is particularly important in companies that operate across large geographical areas or in multiple industries or who employ many different groups of workers. 

Tasks of the occupational health and safety committee: 

• prepare an annual action plan based on the workplace’s occupational health and safety action programme 
• review the current state and development of working conditions and propose improvements to the employer 
• discuss the need for and execution and monitoring of working condition studies 
• discuss how to organise health and safety monitoring at the workplace 
• discuss the need for internal health and safety inspections and proposals for the above 
• assess the workplace’s occupational health and safety action programme and other plans concerning working conditions, including the monitoring of their results 
• review occupational healthcare content and practices 
• propose improvements to occupational healthcare 
• discuss the organising of health and safety training at the workplace 
• participate in workplace health promotion activities 
• participate in health and safety inspections and studies, if necessary 
• discuss the organising of health and safety communications at the workplace. 

Organising occupational health and safety cooperation 

The occupational health and safety officer meets with the workers’ representatives to discuss the following: 

• “workplace” as a concept 
• size of the occupational health and safety organisation 
• number of members and representation in the occupational health and safety committee 
• division of workers into groups (blue-collar, white-collar, and employer representatives). 

In the service sector, “workplace” may refer to a single company that operates in one location or a group of companies operating as a chain, and everything in between. 

Industrial cooperation in occupational health and safety must be organised in a way that makes true participation possible for the workers. In practice, this means negotiating the composition of the organs who decide, plan, monitor, and evaluate each workplace’s health and safety needs and measures and how workers will be represented in all of these levels. 

The areas of occupational health and safety responsibilities can be divided into: 

• individual workplaces 
• geographical operating areas 
• duty-specific operating areas 
• national areas 
• combined corporate chains or marketing groups. 

See also 

• Occupational health and safety action measures are based on a programme 
• Occupational health and safety representatives are chosen by vote 
• Occupational health and safety representatives – rights and responsibilities 

Useful links 

• Occupational safety and health representative – Occupational Safety and Health Administration  
• Act on Occupational Safety and Health Enforcement and Cooperation on Occupational Safety and Health at Workplaces (pdf) (44/2006)