Concept on Health and Safety at Work in the Slovak Republic from 2008 to 2012

1. Introduction

The right to life and health protection is a fundamental human right. The right of employees to just and satisfactory working conditions is incorporated among the economic, social and culture rights. The Constitution of the Slovak Republic explicitly guarantees the right to health and safety at work for the employees.

The draft concept on Health and Safety at Work in the Slovak Republic from 2008 to 2012 (the “OSH Concept”) is based on the Policy Statement of the Government of the SR, the European social and legal culture, respecting conventions of the International Labor Organization (the “ILO”), the European Social Charter, the laws of the European Union and the strategy of the European Commission “Improvement of Work Quality and Productivity: Community Strategy 2007 – 2012 on Health and Safety at Work” (the “Community Strategy for OSH”). 
The Council Resolution of June 25, 2007 on the new Community Strategy for OHS explicitly calls upon the EU Member States to elaborate and implement individual national strategies in the field of health and safety at work (“OSH”) in cooperation with their social partners in the interest of further reducing the number of especially in those sectors which report an above-average occupational accident and diseases rate.    

The proposed measures were discussed at the Coordination Committee for Health and Safety at Work with the participation of experts from state bodies, social partners and educational and research institutions. The Coordination Committee was established pursuant to SR Government Resolution No. 838/2002 to prepare strategic OSH materials and to evaluate the OSH policy in the SR. 
   
2. The Significance of OSH

The quality and level of protection of the “occupational” life and health of employees presents the cultural, social and economic development of employers and the state within a wider context. Improving OSH can be ensured by implementing preventative measures and specific programs and measures by employers which will improve working conditions and eliminate risks and factors determining the incidence of occupational accidents and diseases or other occupational health damage. The continual improvement of OSH can be supported by the social policy of the government and the active participation of both social partners in solving OSH issues individually and in mutual cooperation. The interest in OSH is determined by social and economic aspects which are mutually equal and influential upon each other. That is why in the interest of the development of the Slovak society it is necessary to ensure the harmony of economic and social aspects also in connection with the human factor, which constitutes the determining element of almost every job. Society, as a whole, and individual employers must implement economic and other activities with distinctive consideration for the creation and maintenance of suitable legal labor relations, working conditions and requirements for ensuring OSH in particular. This also relates to natural persons who are businessmen but not employers (“self employed natural person”). Optimizing working conditions allows for the long-term maintenance of the health and working ability of self employed natural persons. Developing care for the life and health of employees and self employed natural persons and optimizing working conditions constitute a humanizing instrument for the workplace and for enhancing the quality of life. They subsequently create the conditions for the development of the entire Slovak society and individual employers, since correct relationships between the employer and employee, which constitute one of the basic preconditions of an employer's economic development, also arise from the application of OSH.     

2.1 OSH and Competitiveness

A good level of OSH may prevent and minimize the loss of human life and health due to occupational accidents, occupational diseases and other occupational health damage. These health problems constitute material loss in addition to human loss. The positive economic influence on improving the working conditions and OSH in particular is expressed through higher productivity, effectiveness and the quality of work and provided services. Thus attention to safe and healthy working conditions assists in enhancing competitiveness determined by quality products, quality services for customers, new products and services and profits which are only created by healthy and motivated employees. Thus it creates the precondition for the competitiveness of products and services of Slovak employers and self employed natural persons at home and abroad. 
    
2.2 Responsibility for OSH 

The employer is responsible for OSH. It is obliged to create and maintain the conditions for ensuring that OSH, at least on the level of standards established by the legal regulations and other regulations for ensuring OSH. It’s best if these standards are voluntarily improved according to the actual conditions of individual workplaces. The self employed natural persons are responsible for their own OSH.   

The promotion of OSH constitutes one of the activities of state bodies and representative organizations for employers and employees.

The state implements its OSH policy through legislative measures, and through the system of inspection and supervisory bodies it controls the adherence to and implementation of measures for ensuring OSH for employers and self employed natural persons. It also ensures the fulfillment of other significant tasks, such as foreign cooperation, research, development, upbringing and education, adult education, promotion, counseling, insurance, taxation and fund contribution policy. 

The current status of OSH in Slovakia and the need for continuous development of care for OSH by employers emphasize the requirement that the representative organizations of employers more actively support their members through expert activities assisting the OSH activities of employers. 

The activities of the representative organizations of employers lie especially in the field of education, enforcement of interests of employees and the control of the OSH status at the workplace. The improvement of the overall OSH situation in the SR could be achieved if the representative organizations of employers and employees would influence the attitudes of employers, employees and self employed natural persons towards a healthy form of “working” life, increasing the labor culture, strengthening responsibility for one’s own economic activities in connection to health and safety protection and the consequent implementation of the instruments for prevention.

2.3 OSH Policy

Pursuant to the Policy Statement of the Government of the SR, the re-evaluation of pertinent legal norms and the improvement of their consequent adherence to the legal OSH regulations by employers by strengthening the performance of labor inspection constitutes part of Government of the SR intentions. Improving conditions to ensure OSH, i.e. improving working conditions even in connection with the need to decrease the number of occupational accidents and occupational diseases constitutes the purpose.  

The submitted OSH Concept represents a continuation of the Concept of the State Policy in the Field of OSH in 2002 formulated for a period of five years. All of its tasks, but one have been implemented or cancelled. For the purpose of the improving OSH at workplaces in the SR in the period of 2008 – 2012 it is necessary to ensure practical, implementable and effective activities in cooperation with the social partners pursuant to the objectives of the Community Strategy on OSH through which the effort of employers in applying legal and other regulations for ensuring OSH at workplaces will be promoted. Their care for OSH will be manifested in a decrease in the overall incidence of occupational accidents.  

3. International Aspects of OSH 

OSH issues have a significant international dimension – in the area of OSH, the Slovak Republic is bound by the ILO international agreements and conventions. The laws of the European Communities regulating OSH are significant in particular for the Slovak Republic. 

OSH in the international context is preferred, but not only in terms of accident prevention and the creation and maintenance of conditions for ensuring OSH. In the wider context it includes conditions for satisfactory work, wellbeing at work and social and legal protection of employees and other persons at workplaces with the employers’ awareness. This has a distinctive positive impact on public health and environmental protection. It contains elements of safety and health protection with a consideration of all aspects of work, directly or indirectly related to work including social and psycho-social factors, such as employment, stress, violence and harassment at the workplace and gender equality. This is also in compliance with the philosophy of the World Health Organization, according to which health is a condition of physical, mental and social wellbeing. Good working conditions, including the ensuring of OSH, constitute the necessary conditions for dignified or good work required from its members by the Community and the ILO.    

3.1 International Labor Organization

The ILO regulates the conditions for ensuring OSH through a complex of conventions and recommendations, 25 of which are binding for the Slovak Republic. They include ILO Convention No. 13 of 1921 on the Use of White Lead in Painting Work, ILO Convention No. 115 of 1960 on the Protection of Employees from Ionizing Radiation, ILO Convention No. 155 of 1981 on the Safety and Health of Workers and the Working Environment and ILO Convention No. 184 of 2001 on Safety and Health in Agriculture.

The Slovak Republic has yet to ratify the basic ILO standards on labor inspection.     

3.2 The European Union

The basic OSH framework in the Community is regulated through an extensive set of 26 Regulations; the key aspects are contained in the Council Regulation of June 12, 1989 on the Introduction of Measures for the Promotion of the Improvement of the Health and Safety of Workers at Work (89/391/EEC). Their purpose is to establish equal minimum OSH standards for all EU Member States. This complex of Regulations is supplemented by other acts of EU bodies, such as Regulations and Decisions. The health and safety of workers at work constitutes one of the most developed aspects of the Community policy in the area of employment and social affairs and represents a contribution to the implementation of basic rights. It represents the precondition for applying the basic principle of the Community – the right to free movement of workers within the common EU space. 

The Community equally prefers the social dimension to economic aspects and it is based on the principle that the health and safety of employees at work constitutes a phenomenon in which it is impossible to see only the economic aspect of the matter. The non-acceptance of this approach by employers is perceived by the EU as the illegal economic preferential treatment of one subject over others and disturbing the equality necessary for free economic competition.    
 
The satisfactory working conditions and especially the safe and non-threatening health factors of work at workplaces are significant for the Community and also for the Slovak Republic in two cardinal policies. We are referring to the solution of situations arising from demographic developments (the aging of the economically active population) by employing “more mature” persons in connection with the prolonging of the old age pension age. They are equally significant for implementing the growth and employment strategy of the revised Lisbon Strategy in connection with the creation of more and better jobs. 

The basic OSH intentions of the Community are contained in the Community Strategy for OSH. Its purpose is to revive the policy of health and safety at work and to improve its implementation within the Community space.  

4. The Present Status of OSH in the Slovak Republic

Dangers obstruct employees and frequently pose a threat to their health when fulfilling their work duties. Dangers or their effects on employees are eliminated or limited through suitable preventative or protective measures for ensuring OSH. 

4.1 Creating and Maintaining the Conditions for Ensuring OSH

From the information acquired during labor inspection and supervisory activities it arises that the care for OSH by employers is frequently minimal or formal. The creation of suitable working conditions for employees and the protection of their life and health at the workplace in particular do not constitute a priority or natural need for a number of employers in the Slovak Republic. Frequently, the lack of interest of employers in ensuring satisfactory working conditions and their greater concern for economic and business intentions prevail. These statements are valid especially in the case of SMEs - production enterprise subjects as a rule, and especially self employed natural persons. Especially dangerous working procedures, the organization of work, dangerous equipment and risky jobs are often found in the production and service sectors. These factors represent a constant potential threat and the cause of health damage.    

The outcome of such approach is the lack of a systematic and unified approach to the issues; care for OSH is usually formal. Insufficient attention is paid to risk assessment, the cooperation between managing employees and employees is too frequently unsatisfactory, and the quality of notifying the employees of OSH issues is unsatisfactory. The OSH activities of employees and representatives of employees in requiring and enforcing satisfactory working conditions, including the conditions for ensuring OSH at employers’ workplaces is also limited by their fear of losing their jobs. The direct proof of the low level of care for OSH are insufficiently secured and equipped operation buildings, working spaces and working environments, not to mention unsuitable machinery and technical equipment.    

4.2 Status of Occupational Accidents and Occupational Diseases 

In the case of the occupational accidents, the long term positive development of the decrease in their number continues in the Slovak Republic. However, in 2006 the number of occupational accidents increased in comparison to 2005 by almost 870. A long-term unfavorable development is reflected in the increasing average time (days) of sick leave due to occupational accidents, which in 2006 exceeded 50 days. From the statistics on occupational accidents for 2006 it arises that the largest number of accidents occurred in relation to the manipulation with objects and loads, in falls, the effect of sharp edges, etc.

For a long time now, (more than 5 years) transportation means have constituted the most frequent source of fatal and severe or serious occupational accidents. Dangerous procedures or methods of work, acting without authorization and lack of personal preconditions for work constitute the most frequent causes of the occurrence of serious occupational accidents. The largest number of fatal and severe or serious occupational accidents occurs in industrial production.  

In the Slovak Republic the positive trend of decreasing of number of employees exposed to harmful working environment factors continues. The decreasing trend in the incidence of occupational diseases is also positive; however in 2006 a higher number of new occupational diseases were reported in comparison with the previous year. The following are the most significant factors of the working environment from the aspect of the number of exposed employees. Physical factors include excessive noise, vibrations and ionizing radiation; chemical factors include dust and chemical substances and agents with toxic effects. 
Recently, one of the major positive factors determining the decrease of health damage at work is constituted by the introduction of new technologies in which a higher level of unconditioned technical safety is integrated. The distinctive reduction of underground mining has also had a significant influence on decreasing the amount of health damage at work.  

4.3 Economic Motivation

The present economic instruments are not sufficiently effective in encouraging employers to create and apply satisfactory working conditions, including conditions for ensuring OSH. The basic economic instruments which significantly lead to increases in the level of care for OSH, such as ensuring preventative activities in the field of OSH through accident insurance policies and the allocation of  a certain amount of financial resources earmarked for accident insurance for guaranteeing this prevention, are not legislatively regulated and used.
The absence of these economic instruments is significant especially in the financial coverage of implementing preventative measures by SMEs. 

4.4 Education and Promotion

In general, legal awareness in relation to OSH among employers, their statutory bodies and other managing employees, self employed natural persons and employees is low. The unawareness or unreasonable underestimation of the risks of health damage, the effort and willingness to solve working tasks even at the expense of one’s health and the unwillingness to prevent health damage through preventative measures continue. It is difficult to enforce the philosophy of personal responsibility for the protection of one’s own safety and health in the working process with employees. The sensitivity of the population, employers and employees towards these issues is insufficient.   

This status also arises from the fact that an adequate system of school education of pupils, students and teachers in the area of OSH does not exist in the Slovak Republic. 

5. The Relation of the Concept of OSH to OSH Legislation

OSH legislation of the Slovak Republic is in compliance with the pertinent laws of the Community. The legal regulations and other regulations for ensuring OSH establish a wide circle of tasks directly or indirectly related to implementing the right to life and health protection of employees at work. This includes organizational, technical, healthcare, upbringing-educational, social and other measures targeted on the management, implementation and control of technical, organizational and personal aspects, for the creation of working conditions that will ensure OSH  and preserve the health and working capacity of employees. The application of legal regulations and other regulations for ensuring OSH in the practice of employers, self employed natural persons and employees is problematic.  
That is why the measures of the OSH Concept are targeted on the support of employers in the more conscientious performance of obligations established by the legal regulations for ensuring OSH; they are also designed to support related aspects determining or developing the performance of these obligations. 

6. OSH Concept Objective

Optimizing the working conditions of employees, including the conditions for ensuring OSH  constitute the means for implementing the basic axiom in the field of OSH according to which the “occupational” health of employees constitutes a valuable national resource. It represents the expression of accepting the essence and value of human life. The significance of this approach is growing considering the aging of the Slovak population. This objective is in compliance with the Community Strategy on OSH. The anticipated OSH Concept is created with the consideration of the present status of OSH and current social conditions in the Slovak Republic. It proposes a complex package of measures whose implementation will significantly promote the application of life and health protection at work for employees and self employed natural persons in the implementing of their business activities. The primary objective of the OSH Concept in the period of 2008 – 2012 is to gradually decrease the number of occupational accidents in the Slovak Republic per 100 employees by 25% in comparison to the status in 2006. It means to decrease the value of 0.68 of this indicator achieved in the Slovak Republic in 2006 by at least by 0.17 to the value of 0.51 in 2012. Based on a stable number of employees we are talking about a decrease in occupational accidents from 13,826 in 2006 to 10,373 in 2012, i.e. by more than 3,450. 

The support of employers and self employed natural persons in the conscientious application of legal regulations and other regulations for ensuring OSH and related legislation is also an instrument that will help to achieve this objective. The bodies of state administration in the field of labor inspection and state supervision and the strengthening of their activities in enforcing the protection of employees at work in compliance with the Community standards and the ILO make up another important instrument for enforcing the established objective.    

7. OSH Concept Priorities

In the interest of the successful and gradual achieving of the OSH Concept objective, it is necessary to decrease the value of the monitored indicator of the number of occupational accidents per 100 employees at least by 4 – 6 % every year. In order to achieve this in the interest of improving the status of working conditions, including OSH in the Slovak Republic and to decrease the number of occupational accidents in general, all employers must show increased effort and adopt more effective measures. We are especially referring to employers performing work with a higher incidence of health injury cases, especially those whose monitored indicators exceed its average value achieved in the Slovak Republic in the pertinent division according to the statistical classification of economic activities. Small and middle-sized enterprises in particular must equally concentrate on ensuring these activities. Self employed natural persons must also take more distinctive care of their safety and health by themselves. 
From the aspect of the number of occupational accidents in the Slovak Republic, high risk areas include the construction industry, agriculture and forest management, the extraction of raw materials and industrial production, especially in processing timber and wood products, metal production and the production of metal products, the production of machinery and transportation means. 

In terms of the seriousness of occupational accidents and the number of fatal accidents per 100 employees, the construction industry, agriculture, hunting and forest management, transportation, storing and communications and industrial production, especially the production of pulp, paper and paper products, the production of non-metal mineral products, the processing of timber and wood products and the production of chemicals, chemical products and chemical fibers are especially risky. Increased risks can also be found in working activities in which extremely tragic events have recently occurred, for example in mining, defusing ammunition and working close to electric equipment. 

Employers and self employed natural persons involved in the performance of these activities must more thoroughly implement suitable protective and especially preventative measures in the interest of decreasing the amount of health damage at work and achieving the OSH Concept objective. In the interest of monitoring the fulfillment of the overall objective, the recommended year on year values for decreases in the monitored indicator will be established after receiving the consent of the representatives of employers on the OSH Coordination Committee. 
Increased attention must also be focused on specific groups of employees which may be excessively exposed to risks connected with the performance of their occupation or to the special and specific risks, for example juvenile employees, employees performing their job for a short period of time, employees with insufficient knowledge and experience, distinctively older employees, migrating persons and pregnant women. We are referring to employees up to 20 years of age, employees over 60 years of age, employees with little or no experience in the given type of work and foreigners, especially persons from culturally different areas. Greater attention must also be devoted to improving OSH care in the performance of working activities by persons with disabilities, with an emphasis on protected workplaces, protected workshops and social enterprises.  

The supervisory, advisory and informational attention of all involved, especially inspection bodies and supervisory authorities, must be targeted on these activities, sectors and groups of employees. The following priorities of the OSH Concept define the basic circles of measures which in the interest of the further development of the attention of employers for OSH and decreasing the number of occupational accidents and occupational diseases, promote OSH activities of employers. 

Tasks and measures for implementing individual priorities are included in Annex No. 1 up to Annex No. 4. 
Annex No. 1 contains the whole spectrum of primary tasks and measures which must be implemented as a priority.
Annex No. 2 establishes the measures and tasks proposed for implementation by individual ministries, other central state administration bodies and other institutions within their competencies.
Annex No. 3 delimits the tasks and incentives which are suitable for initiative fulfillment by the pertinent relevant institutions and involved subjects in the interest of the effective promotion of achieving the OSH Concept objective.
Annex No. 4 contains recommended measures and tasks for employers in order to decrease the number of occupational accidents in the Slovak Republic in the period of 2008 – 2012.     

Priority No. 1: Implementing Prevention

The basic philosophy for the solution of OSH issues (not only the preferred holistic approach to OSH issues) is constituted by the conscientious application of preventative measures which prevent health damage. The regulatory and executive roles of the state are decisive. Prevention may be effectively ensured by maximizing the inputs designated for this purpose, including personal and financial ones. This reduces the costs for the elimination of problems including health damage. Thus, OSH resources will be used more purposefully. Thus it is necessary to motivate employers, self employed natural persons and employees to ensure OSH especially through economic and social forms.
 
In the interest of improving all elements which could positively influence the level of OSH, changes in the behavior of employees and the activities of employers targeted on the promotion and development of the health of employees at work must be activated. The basic instrument of prevention is constituted by the identification and subsequent systematic management of existing, new and potential risks of health problems, such as stress and excessive burdens.
   
Prevention must be carried out continuously and in all activities including decision-making activities by the top management structures of the employer, its managers, expert workers and employees. These activities must be monitored and strictly implemented. 

Ensuring health safety and protection at work in subcontracting relations is also an important factor in prevention. 

Priority No. 2: Quality Counseling
 
In the interest of improving the working conditions determining or influencing the occurrence of occupational accidents, occupational diseases and other health damage, it is necessary to improve the provision of pertinent OSH advice and information.

Effective and efficient counseling for employers and self employed natural persons is only possible if its provision is ensured and provided by experts in occupational safety, health protection at work and other specific areas, including upbringing and education and the safety of technical equipment. First of all, we are referring to the availability of quality preventative and protective services and the scope of activities they provide. The deepening of the process of applying OSH regulations among employers and self employed natural persons can only be achieved through the conscientious implementation of expert activities at employers’ workplaces by their own expert employees and if necessary by external expert counseling services operating in OSH for employers. 

Effective counseling may be provided by the representative organizations of employers and employees and state authorities – the pertinent employees of state administration bodies in the field of labor inspection and supervision. Counseling provided by the print and electronic media is also significant. Suitable economic resources for ensuring counseling activities must be created. 

Priority No. 3: Enhancement of Information and Promotion

An appropriate level of informing the population contributes to raising its sensitivity towards OSH issues. In turn, the level of legal liability of employers, self employed natural persons and employees is equally raised. Information and promotional activities disseminate knowledge and recommendations on the correct implementation of OSH and methods leading to the optimization of working conditions and the safe, healthy, non-threatening performance of work duties.    

The purposeful use of instruments for the dissemination of information and promotion, especially among employers and employees, serves to raise awareness and information levels about OSH and creates and maintains positive attitudes towards OSH. It helps to enforce OSH among representatives of representative organizations of employers and political and state representatives. Another significant outcome of OSH information and promotion is its positive influence on safe, healthy, non-threatening behavior in private, out-of-work activities.  

For these purposes, OSH information must be created by experts in the field of communication and be easily accessible. Suitable economic resources to ensure information activities must be created.
 
Information and promotion, especially in the interest of prevention and the use of adequate protective measures through instruments typical for adult education, information dissemination, and training are essential. 

Priority No. 4: Upbringing and Education Development

OSH upbringing and education helps to systematically create and develop expert knowledge, abilities and skills along with desirable attitudes and behavior of employers, self employed natural persons and employees towards OSH tasks, including the working environment and the safety of technical equipment and the optimization of working conditions. We are referring to the adequate incorporation of OSH issues into the system of life-long education related to technical education, the deepening and enhancement of qualifications, re-qualification, further education and the acquiring of new abilities and skills. 

School education, on-the-job education and education implemented by legal persons or natural persons authorized to provide education in the field of occupational protection are the basic forms of OSH education. Suitable economic resources for the promotion of education of small employers and self employed natural persons must also be created.

The purpose of this is to effectively ensure a sufficient amount of knowledge and skills for employees and to raise the awareness of pupils and students of elementary and secondary schools and colleges and universities, i.e. future employees, statutory bodies and other managing employees of employers and businessmen regarding OSH issues with an emphasis on future managers. In the case of employees of labor inspection and supervisory bodies, it is necessary to ensure the acquiring and deepening of specialized knowledge and skills necessary for the performance of their work duties by improving and broadening their professional preparation and depth of information on OSH issues, related issues and the application of relevant legislation. 

Priority No. 5: Effective Cooperation

The deepening of the process of applying the regulations for ensuring OSH and eliminating conditions for the occurrence of occupational accidents and occupational diseases could be provided by involving individual participants who would be obliged to implement OSH or help to implement OSH. The intention is to achieve a higher level of active mutual cooperation of the representative organizations of employers and employees on the nationwide level and the fruitful cooperation of employers and employees on the level of employers.  

Increasing the involvement of self employed natural persons and employees in the protection of their own health is also important.

The general requirement that OSH solutions be adopted and implemented with the active cooperation of all involved is also related to the enforcement of the mutual cooperation of pertinent state authorities, especially state administration bodies in the area of labor inspection and state supervision; this includes their cooperation with social partners.  

Cooperation of Social Partners

Solutions to OSH issues in cooperation with social partners must be pursued through social dialogue and on the level of experts and by jointly enforcing the thorough application of legal regulations for ensuring OSH among employers and enforcing the law in the field of OSH. 

Deepening the process of applying the regulations for ensuring OSH and increasing the involvement of individual participants on a nationwide Slovak level and among employers is planned to be achieved along with the activities of the KOZ SR (the Confederation of Trade Union Organizations of the Slovak Republic) especially through the active involvement of representative organizations of employers and their representatives – the National Employers Union of the SR and the Association of Employers’ Unions and Associations of the SR. The active submission of proposals for solutions is to be manifested in the preparation and implementation of nationwide, sectoral and corporate programs and projects targeted on OSH solution for the promotion and development of employee health at work. 

On the level of individual employers, it is desirable to deepen collective bargaining in the development of OSH above the standard level provided by legal regulations. 

The purpose of cooperation is to promote the correct application of legal regulations among employers, for example by ensuring a targeted common campaign influencing the employers and employees. To develop cooperation, especially for the benefit of the promotion of SMEs and in production activities that would enable their specifics and possibilities to be taken into consideration while simultaneously ensuring OSH tasks as thoroughly as possible. 

International Cooperation

The participation of the representatives of the Slovak Republic in activities of international institutions brings positive results, especially in the enforcement of its interests and the preparation of their (EU, ILO) binding and recommending documents for implementation and their application in the Slovak Republic. We are referring to active participation in the field of OSH, the working environment, the safety of the technical equipment, the safety of designated products, market supervision, etc.  

Participation in the Senior Labor Inspectors Committee (SLIC) and the International Association of Labor Inspection (IALI) is of essential significance. The institutions of these organizations bring together the top representatives of the labor inspectorate and constitute the basis for the expert assessment of global social conditions in terms of competencies and the development needs of OSH labor inspection activities. The participation of the representative of the Principal Mining Office as a member of the permanent working group for occupational safety in mines within the framework of the Consulting Committee for Health and Safety at Work of the European Commission, which deals with the issues related to the health and safety at work in mines, is also significant. The cooperation and exchange of practical and legislative experience with the EU Member States is also decisive.    
The importance of international OSH cooperation comprises the acquiring of information and the dissemination of positive information about correct solutions to working conditions including OSH in particular. It also constitutes a significant instrument in forming relationships with third countries, especially those applying for EU membership. 

Priority No. 6: Effective Institutional Framework

The quality of OSH institutional elements significantly influences and promotes prevention in addition to the application of working conditions. First of all, we are referring to the state institution coordinating the OSH, effective state inspection and supervisory bodies, the institute creating the space for effective social dialogue and the functioning of mechanisms of social partners in their influencing on OSH. The development and expert deepening of the OSH control and counseling activities of trade union organizations is also important. 

Labor Inspection and State Supervision

Deepening the process of the thorough application of regulations ensuring OSH among employers and involving individual participants on the nationwide and corporate levels in the Slovak Republic will be achieved by enhancing the effectiveness of state administration authorities in labor inspection and state supervisory bodies. In order to increase the number of supervisory activities and improve the operation and effectiveness of labor inspection and state supervision bodies and in the interest of developing their preventative practices, it is necessary to strengthen the quality and quantity of human resources.  This will make it possible to carry out OSH labor inspection and state supervision according to the standards achieved in the EU Member States.  It will also ensure that the ratio of employees of supervised employers and self employed natural persons to one labor inspector or worker carrying out state OSH supervision will be between 8,000 and 9,000 to 1. 

The effective use of already existing financial, technical and personal resources of state inspection and supervisory authorities may be achieved through better coordination and cooperation and the gradual creation of conditions for the suitable institutional integration of current OSH inspection and supervisory bodies, as it is anticipated by the standards and practices of the Community and the ILO. Thus, the effectiveness of the operations of these state authorities regarding employers and self employed natural persons will increase and the burden of the controlled subjects due to overlapping controls from several state authorities will decrease.  

In the interest of prevention as well as improving the adherence to the regulations for ensuring OSH, the preventative activities of the labor inspection and supervision of the state mining authority must be increased. This is also due to the fact that at least one third of the newly established employers will undergo labor inspection and principal supervision not later than within one year from their establishment. The intention is also to increase the share of the performance of OSH labor inspection and principal supervision in favor of preventative activities so that they will constitute at least 70% of the total number of OSH performances. In selecting supervised subjects it will be necessary to give preference to SMEs so that at least 50% of them will have undergone labor inspection in the previous period. Principal supervision of individual supervised subjects must be carried out once a year.
For implementing the objectives of the OSH Concept, the labor inspection bodies and other state OSH supervision bodies will be oriented on the consequent monitoring of the quality of working conditions, including the working environment and the application of the system of labor protection management by employers, especially as it relates to the control of the application of legal regulations and other regulations for ensuring OSH and implementing effective preventative measures. Subsequently, they will seek their application in the full scope of legal possibilities, including the initiation of legal proceedings and criminal courses of action. Labor inspection, state health supervision and principal supervision bodies must improve the activities of preventative and protective services inside corporations and those performed by contractors. 
Preventative, monitoring, punitive and repressive activities of the labor inspection and other state OSH supervision bodies will focus on sectors and jobs with a higher incidence of health damage.  

Priority No. 7: Adequate Research
Specific knowledge is necessary in order to improve the working conditions and decrease the number of occupational accidents, occupational diseases and other health damage. The promotion of basic and applied OSH research and related areas is necessary.  It must include special consideration of new, potential and ongoing work risks. The results of the research especially regarding new risks and possible measures for their prevention should then be presented to the general public and incorporated into practice at actual workplaces. Adequate economic resources for the promotion of research and implementing its outcomes into practice must also be created.  

Priority No. 8: Corresponding Legislation

Legislation constitutes a significant means for implementing the state OSH policy. Developing legislation for ensuring OSH will help to increase the legal certainty of employers and employees in the field of OSH.

Simple and well organized OSH legislation that takes into consideration science-technical and social development is necessary for the promotion of the entrepreneurial environment and facilitation of the development of SMEs. Adequate legislative formulation of the institute of labor inspection pursuant to pertinent ILO conventions will establish the legal basis for the effective and efficient performance of labor inspection authorities. 

8. Financing

Implementing the tasks and measures of the OSH Concept will be financed from budget and non-budget resources. The financial means necessary for implementing tasks and measures for the OSH Concept will be identified and planned for the following year in the elaboration of tasks and measures in the implementing shape and form. 

Public authorities will implement them through financial means within the framework of the approved limits of the pertinent budget chapters for 2008 up to 2012.

Public authorities, other institutions and organizations and legal persons and natural persons may use the financial resources (funds, programs) of the Community based on approved projects and their financing, such as the ESF through SOP Human Resources, from the Operation Program Employment and Social Inclusion and the Progress program. 
The tasks and measures of the OSH Concept which the representative organizations of employers and the representative organizations of employees are interested in implementing in addition to those tasks prepared and implemented by them, may be financed from the means purposefully earmarked by these representative organizations.
Some tasks and measures will also be financed from other resources, such as means allocated by commercial insurance companies for the implementation of tasks related to their interests, donations, etc.  

9. Enforcement of the Application of the OSH Concept

In the interest of the effective implementing of the tasks and measures of the OSH Concept, it is necessary to universally promote its dissemination, explain its importance and promote its benefits. This is especially important in relation to the expert public, employers, self employed natural persons, and SMEs. It is suitable to use the media, seminars, etc. for this purpose.  

Monitoring of the Implementation of the OSH Concept Objective 

Implementing the OSH Concept objective and fulfilling its priorities including individual measures and tasks included in Annex No. 1 up to Annex No. 3 will be monitored and evaluated on a semi-annual basis by the OSH Coordination Committee, which constituted the Counseling Body established at the MoLSAF SR for the purpose of creating and assessing the state OSH policy. For this purpose, the administrators and cooperating institutions submit information on the fulfillment of the MoLSAF SR concept which will then be forwarded to the Coordination Committee. The members of the Coordination Committee are continuously informed of the fulfillment of the Concept tasks. 
It has been proposed that the report on implementing the OSH Concept be submitted to the session of the Government of the SR in 2009 for the first time and every year thereafter, not later than within six months from the end of the respective calendar year.  

Annex No. 1

OSH CONCEPT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM

A. Enforcing of the prevention culture in the OSH

1. To provide information about the possibility of using financial means from the ESF, PROGRESS and other resources of the European Union for projects oriented on OSH  improvement and promoting the implementation of such projects.

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR
Cooperation: MoF SR, MoEdu SR, MCRD SR

2. Through the provision of counseling and implementing suitable education programs, to create conditions for enforcing prevention for the improvement of OSH in the case of SMEs and self employed natural persons.

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: the Association of Employers’ Unions and Associations of the Slovak Republic (the “AEUA SR”), the National Employers Union of the SR (the “NEU SR”), and the Confederation of Trade Unions of the SR
Cooperation: MoLSAF SR, MoE SR, MoH SR, the Slovak Chamber of Free Trades (the “SCFT”), the Slovak Association for OSH and Fire Protection (the “SA OSH and PFF”), as necessary

3. To ensure that the professional, employer’s and employee’s associations elaborate their programs for the economic, expert and social stimulation of their members to increase care for OSH and implement these programs.

Deadline: 2008 and continuously
Responsible: AEUA SR, the National Employers Union of the SR (the “NEU”), and the Confederation of Trade Unions of the SR

4. To develop the application of the project “Best OSH Practice Rules” and target it on the practical application of legal regulations in those sectors and jobs with the highest incidence of occupational accidents. 

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR
Cooperation: MoE SR, MoH SR, CTU SR, AEUA SR, NEU, SCFT, SA OSH and PFF, as necessary

5. To deepen the promotion of effective OSH application in practice through the program “A Safe Enterprise”.  
Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoE SR
Cooperation: Confederation of Trade Unions of the SR, AEUA SR, NEU, SCFT, SA OSH and PFF

6. To adjust employers’ accident insurance for cases of damage to the health of employees at work as an effective economic stimulation system able to influence employers through preventative instruments and to help them in optimizing working conditions and decreasing the number of occupational accidents, occupational diseases and other damage to health at work. Thus the effective promotion of employers is ensured especially in the case of very small and small employers in preventing the occurrence of occupational accidents and occupational diseases. For this purpose it is necessary to prepare a draft Act through which Act No. 461/2003 Coll. on social insurance as amended and the execution regulation is changed and supplemented. The execution regulations will supplement the accident insurance in the Act by:

•	applying a distinctive level of discounts and surcharges to insurance premiums;
•	ensuring preventative activities such as research, further education, professional education, counseling, etc.,
•	establishing a certain minimum volume of annual insurance premium for accident insurance designated for the amount of the insurance claim for preventative OSH activities.  

Deadline: 2009
Responsible: MoLSAF SR
Cooperation: Social Insurance Company, Confederation of Trade Unions of the SR, AEUA SR, NEU

B. Development of OSH Counseling  

1. To design a system for the provision of information to employers and self employed natural persons and to ensure its operation. To provide OSH information to help to introduce new regulations into practice, to present and enforce the improvement of working conditions, a systematic OSH approach and the implementation of measures for the prevention and protection and the safety and health of employees at work. For this purpose to design and publish technical and promotional-educational materials. 

Deadline: 2008 and ongoing
Responsible: AEUA SR, NEU, and Confederation of Trade Unions of the SR
Cooperation: SCFT, SA OSH and PFF, TUKE (Technical University Košice)

C. Enhancement of Notification and Promotion

1. To organize campaigns including the media campaign which will positively influence public and expert opinion in apprehending the significance of a safe and healthy working environment, and contribute to the improvement of the social and legal awareness towards a healthy lifestyle, work culture and adherence to OSH principles.   
Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR, MoE SR, SA OSH and PFF
Cooperation: as necessary

2. Through national and regional media to regularly inform the general public of information acquired in performing labor inspections and the state supervision, on developments in the occupational accident rate and the rate of occupational diseases, the status of OSH and positive information regarding the solving of OSH. 

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR, MoE SR, SA OSH and PFF
Cooperation: as necessary

3. To prepare a project for establishing and operating an internet page specialized on OSH; the task consists of
•	providing simple and fast access of the general public to OSH information in the scope necessary for the expert and safe management of performed activities,
•	early notification on changes in legal regulations and other regulations for ensuring OSH,
•	issues of OSH management, risk assessment, enforcement of OSH rules, correct technologies, procedures and working conditions and others, especially the principal aspects of OSH,
•	promoting seminars and other activities oriented on changes to and the application of new OSH legislation, best practice examples.

Deadline: 2008 up to 2009 and ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR
Cooperation: MoH SR, MoE SR, AEUA SR, NEU, Confederation of Trade Unions of the SR, TUKE, Slovak Chamber of Free Trade (the “SCFT”), SA OSH and PFF

4. To promote OSH information in the general public and to help to introduce new regulations into practice with an emphasis on the prevention of occupational accidents and occupational diseases, the improvement of working conditions, the enforcement of the systematic approach to OSH, the application of conditions creating the working wellbeing of employees at workplaces and the enhancement of the work culture.
For this purpose to publish promotional–educational materials, fliers, booklets, CDs and DVDs, according to need, to establish and operate specialized telephone lines of expert counseling, etc. To provide space in the print and electronic media for the promotion of OSH issues. To prepare materials by professionals in the field of communication. 

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR, MoE SR

5. To prepare and implement the project “Doing Business Safely” implemented in the form of basic written recommendations on OSH for beginning business people, especially in sectors and at jobs with higher incidences of damage to health.
For this purpose, to publish information fliers and manuals for individual sectors with basic information arising from OSH legislation and instructions for their implementing. 

Deadline: 2008 and ongoing
Responsible: AEUA SR, NEU
Cooperation: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR, MoE SR, MoI SR, Confederation of Trade Union of the SR, SCFT, SA OSH and PFF

6. To cooperate in the implementation of the Global Action Plan for Employee Health.

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoH SR
Cooperation: as necessary

7. To organize topically oriented expert seminars for statutory bodies and other managers of employers, especially SMEs; these seminars will be targeted on commenting on new legislation, new examples of best OSH practice, etc.  

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: AEUA SR, NEU,
Cooperation: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR, MoE SR, MoI SR, Confederation of Trade Unions of the SR

D. Development of OSH Upbringing and Education  

1. To ensure the development of the school system of OSH upbringing and education and quality education and upbringing at pre-school facilities, elementary schools, secondary schools and colleges and universities, in further education and teacher training for OSH upbringing and education.  

Deadline: until 2012
Responsible: MoEdu SR
Cooperation: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR, MoE SR

E. Improvement of Cooperation in the OSH

1. To agree upon and implement mechanisms and forms of cooperation among social partners in the field of OSH on the sectoral and regional levels. 

Deadline: 2008 and ongoing
Responsible: NEU, AEUA SR, Confederation of Trade Unions of the SR (the “CTU SR”)

2. To motivate and coordinate the active participation of employers in OSH projects, such as Safe Enterprises, Healthy Workplaces, including their project design and submission for ensuring OSH by business and non-business subjects for implementing through funds and programs of the European Union.  

Deadline: 2008 and ongoing
Responsible: AEUA SR, NEU

3. To create conditions for the international cooperation of supervisory authorities, social partners and institutions in the field of OSH on the regional level. 

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoE SR
Cooperation: MoH SR, MoI SR, MoD SR, MoJ SR, MoTPT SR, CTU SR, NEU, AEUA SR

4. To involve OSH experts in international cooperation within the framework of expert teams, technical commissions, work on EU, ILO projects, etc.  

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR, MoE SR, CTU SR, NEU, AEUA SR
Cooperation: as necessary

F. Effective Operation of Institutions in the Field of OSH 

1. To make the activities of the OSH Coordinating Committee more effective and to broaden its members by trade union representatives. 

Deadline: 2008
Responsible: MoLSAF SR
Cooperation: CTU SR

2. To ensure corresponding financial resources and conditions for the effective performance of labor inspection, state healthcare supervision and principal supervision in all areas and their competency including professional education and adequate financial remuneration of the labor inspectors and persons performing state healthcare supervision and principal supervision to enable them to orient their activities more toward preventative activities according to SLIC recommendations and Community standards.  

Deadline: 2008 up to 2009 and ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR, MoE SR

3. To ensure the control of the adherence to the terms and conditions of issued authorizations for the performance of activities of preventative and protective services, authorized legal persons and natural persons authorized to train and educate in the field of labor protection pursuant to § 14, 21 and 27 of Act No. 124/2006 Coll. on occupational safety and health protection and on the amendment of certain Acts as amended by the Act No. 309/2007 Coll.

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR

4. To jointly propose and apply effective measures for increasing the coordination and cooperation of control and counseling activities of the labor inspectorates and regional public healthcare offices at employers and self employed natural persons in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their impact on OSH. 

Deadline: 2008 and ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR

5. To annually analyze the application of regulations for ensuring OSH in connection with the analysis of the occupational accident rate and the rate of occupational diseases and to define risky sectors, regions, jobs and employers based on the results of this analysis; to propose targeted activities for them implemented by labor inspectorates and bodies of state health supervision and to intensify supervisory activities including the imposing of sanctions.    

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoH SR, MoE SR
Cooperation: as necessary

6. In order to ensure the free movement of goods within the framework of the EU and in order to achieve the highest possible level of safety of designated products to create conditions for the gradual 
•	personal and professional completion of bodies of labor inspectorates,
•	provision of financial means for the testing of technical equipment manifesting technical shortcomings from the aspect of ensuring health and safety at work.

Deadline: 2009
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoE SR
Cooperation: ÚNMS SR

7. To provide language preparation for selected employees of the labor inspectorate and state mining authority which participate in market supervision, in the interest of their involvement in the activities of EC working groups for the safety of individual technical equipment and products. 

Deadline: 2009 and ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoE SR

G. OSH Research Development and the Application of Its Outcomes

1. To propose the improvement of methods for the identification, assessment and management of occupational health damage risks.

Deadline: 2008 up to 2010
Responsible: MoLSAF SR
Cooperation: MZ SR, MH SR, TUKE, as necessary

2. In the interest of implementing research outcomes, to ensure the transfer of OSH research outcomes to the corporate sphere by presenting the outcomes of research with an emphasis on SMEs.

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR
Cooperation: AEUA SR, NEU SR, CTU SR, TUKE, as necessary

3. To identify the attitudes of employers and employees towards OSH.

Deadline: 2010
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoE SR
Cooperation: as necessary

4. To ensure the design of effective research plans in the field of science and technology, in which OSH issues will be taken into consideration and to carry out their implementation. 

Deadline: 2008 up to 2012
Responsible: MoEdu SR
Cooperation: colleges/universities

5. To propose instruments for more effective OSH research.

Deadline: 2008 up to 2009
Responsible: MoLSAF SR
Cooperation: as necessary

H. Legislation

1. To prepare expert opinions necessary for ratifying the following ILO conventions:

•	Convention on Labor Inspection in Industry and Trade No. 81 of 1947,
•	Convention on Labor Inspection in Agriculture No. 129 of 1969,
•	Convention on Support Framework for Safety and Health at Work No. 187 of 2006,
•	ILO Convention on Safety in the Use of Chemical Substances at Work No. 170 of 1990.

Deadline: 2009
Responsible: MoLSAF SR
Cooperation: MoFA SR, MoH SR, MoE SR, MoI SR, MoD SR, MoJ SR

2. To prepare drafts of generally binding legal executive regulations specifying the conditions for ensuring OSH with the goal to increase the level of OSH in selected areas of the Slovak  Republic.  

Deadline: ongoing
Responsible: MoLSAF SR, MoE SR
Cooperation: MoH SR, as necessary

3. To identify potential problems in applying legal regulations for ensuring OSH and to propose measures for improving their implementation. 

Deadline: 2009 and ongoing
Responsible: CTU SR, NEU, AEUA SR
Cooperation: SCFT, SA OSH and PFF

I. Provision of Financing

1. To ensure resources for implementing the Health and Safety at Work Concept in the Slovak Republic for 2008 up to 2012 in preparing the state budget for the following year. 

Deadline: 2009 and ongoing
Responsible: ministers and chairs of other central state administration bodies

Annex No. 2

Measures for Decreasing the Number of Occupational accidents in the SR in the Period from 2008 to 2012, which in the Interest of the Further Development of Care for OSH Are Proposed for Implementation by Selected Ministries, Other Central State Administration Bodies and Institutions

Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic

•	to supplement the number of the labor inspectors by experts to enable the due performance of labor inspection and to resolve their wages

Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic

In the conditions of the Corps of Prison and Court Guards 
•	to increase legal and social awareness regarding OSH and knowledge of regulations in this area
•	to develop all forms of counseling
•	to lead people towards respect for their own lives and health and for the health of others
•	to employ the sentenced assigned to work only at the workplaces with approved technology or approved technological procedures
•	to pay increased attention to preventative activities
•	consequently to ensure the selection of the sentenced for working assignment by considering the assessment of qualifications, personal preconditions, adaptation to the conditions in prison and also evaluations from the aspect of psycho-physiological personality assessments
•	to focus control activities on
- performing work and activities with an elevated risk to health danger
- the technical status and ensuring of the maintenance of construction sites
- carrying out instructions of employees in the field of OSH
- using personal protective work means

Ministry of Transportation, Post and Telecommunications of the Slovak Republic

In terms of the Railway Police
•	to identify issues in applying generally binding legal regulations and internal regulations and acquired knowledge in the design and approval process of OSH regulations 
•	to increase the informing of members and employees on the specialized internet page for the purposes of simple and fast access to OSH information in the event of changes to generally binding legal regulations, internal regulations and service and working conditions in the scope necessary for the safe performance of work 
•	to carry out regular assessments of the OSH status and development of services and the occupational accident rate in the previous period, to adopt and approve OSH activities for the upcoming period 

Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic

•	to annually carry out preventative inspections of buildings and equipment from the aspect of the OSH at the SO SR targeted on the elimination of detected shortcomings and thus the prevention of occupational accidents 

Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic
(Supreme Mining Authority)

•	to ensure early notification in the event of changes to regulations, technological procedures
•	to ensure elevated control by the bodies of the principal authority and the expert and personal strengthening of these bodies
•	to ensure elevated attention to SMEs in all OSH areas 
•	to monitor and assess the development of the accident rate and the rate of occupational diseases on every level and to focus on control and counseling activities in the field regarding subjects with unfavorable development, to propose necessary measures including possible modifications in regulations 
•	to use resources from the Structural Funds especially for the upbringing, education and promotion of safe work 
•	to promote OSH teaching at secondary schools and colleges/universities

Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic

•	finalize legislative solutions for OSH conditions for university and college students
•	to specify the rules and criteria for compensation obligations in the event of a registered school accident – with special consideration to serious registered occupational accidents with aggravated bodily harm – through the provision of financial means for these purposes centrally
•	in the interest of preventing physical attacks of clients of re-education facilities towards the employees of pertinent school facilities

- to increase the number of employees of pertinent school facilities with round the clock operation so that at night and in the evening at least two pedagogical workers with required qualifications will be present
- to ensure that school facilities with round the clock operation (re-education institutions, diagnostic centers, therapeutic-upbringing sanatoriums) also employ psychologists and therapeutic pedagogues who will be available to the clients round  the clock
•	to regularly inform employees and the pertinent trade union body on preventative and protective measures carried out by the employer
•	to ensure through the Cultural, Education and Grant Agency the solution of OSH issues in the following projects 
- E – Learning Module of Education in Upbringing towards Health (Administrator: Kega in cooperation with the MoEdu SR; deadline 2008)
- Hygiene – Environmental Medicine – university textbook, modernization of the educational process for newly opened university fields of studies, teaching material harmonized with the requirements of the subject and new EU legislation in the field of health protection (Administrator: Kega in cooperation with the MoEdu SR; deadline 2008)
- Sensorics and the Technology of Safety and Security Systems Laboratory 
(Administrator: Kega in cooperation with the MoEdu SR; deadline 2008 - 2009)

Ministry of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic

•	improvement of the ergonomic aspects of workplaces
•	enhancement of the quality of OSH training through their supplementing with the latest information with an emphasis on new employees

Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic

•	to increase control activities
•	to control and guide enterprises providing cleaning services in the sense of harmonizing their activities with the operation at workplaces
•	to provide for the depositing, liquidation and collection of biological material by establishing modern incinerators
•	to organize first aid courses targeted on specific professions of employees – for example within the framework of a 16-hour first aid course incorporating the teaching of wider topics on burns with the goal of decreasing the number and seriousness of occupational accidents
•	to incorporate the topic on occupational accidents caused by vehicles on the premises of enterprises and on the roads in the first aid course for applicants for driving licenses and especially in the periodic tests for professional drivers of trucks and buses 
•	to distribute health-education materials dealing with topics such as basic health protection rules at work, etc. within the framework of courses

Confederation of Trade Unions of the Slovak Republic

•	to strengthen the performance of the trade union control of the OSH 

Annex No. 3

Further Measures and Tasks for Decreasing the Number of Occupational Accidents in the Slovak Republic in 2008 up to 2012

The following and other measures and tasks whose fulfillment by the relevant institutions and involved subjects are considered necessary and suitable in the interest of the further development of OSH care of employees and effective promotion in order to achieve the objectives of the OSH  Concept.

•	Adequately integrate OSH issues into individual policies, such as matters of the school system, agriculture, allocation of public resources, research (ministries and other central state administration bodies, professional unions and associations).  
•	To prepare methods for identifying and assessing new and potential risks (for example research institutions, expert business institutions, the Slovak Association for the OSH and Fire Protection, professional units of employers, producers).
•	To increase OSH awareness and to improve the positive attitudes towards OSH among employers, employees and self employed natural persons, 
- to make them aware of the value of their lives and health,
- to encourage them to respect their responsibility for the protection of their lives and health and the lives and health of their co-workers, which constitutes an inseparable personal responsibility of every employee, especially the managers, which can not be transferred (delegated) to anyone else,
- to inform them of the influence of working conditions on employers, society and the economy.
•	To enhance the preconditions for the suitable ergonomic solution of workplaces and enforce their practical application in the interest of OSH improvement.
•	To present the economic aspects of OSH to the general public and the business environment, especially
- existing instruments for the economic motivation of employees and self employed natural persons,
- positive influences and savings in the case of employees in employers’ management, the management of self employed natural persons and in the case of public resources. 
•	To identify and promote existing economic instruments significant from the aspect of OSH, such as the possibility to deduct OSH costs from the tax base, providing income compensation in the case of the temporary inability of employees to work (for example MoF SR, MoLSAF SR).  
•	To identify and promote existing criminal and civil instruments which are positively or negatively significant from the aspect of OSH (for example the MoJ SR). 
•	To promote in the media pertinent decisions of courts emphasizing the social unacceptability of negative OSH behavior (non-acting) of employers and individuals, especially in the case of health damage while performing their work duties (for example the MoJ SR).  
•	To achieve cooperation of social partners especially through 
- developing activities of representative organizations of employers, professional associations of employers and representative organizations of employees on national and regional levels,
- close cooperation of social partners on the sectoral level,
- very close cooperation on the level of employers.
•	To create an expert OSH commission within the competency of AEUA SR and NEU with the possibility of creating thematically oriented working groups for the solution of individual partial areas of the OSH; the task is to analyze the existing status and needs and propose corrective activities (AEUA SR, NEU).
•	To prepare the following relatively simple, comprehensible and practical items:
- information manuals for ensuring OSH for individual types of work, such as work with chemical factors, work in heights,
- models and methodological materials for the management of selected types of risk, etc.
(such as research institutions, SCFT, SA for OSH and PFF, CTU SR, AEUA SR, NEU).
•	To introduce chapters from pertinent OSH areas in the professional preparation of secondary school and university students with an emphasis on risk identification and management in actual conditions of prevention.  
•	To apply upbringing and education not only in the work process but to begin at schools and to enhance the awareness of children and youth of their own health care also in connection with the preparation for the performance of jobs.  
•	To examine and modify internal regulations (methodological materials) for the performance of labor inspections and state supervision in the interest of ensuring more effective activities of the labor inspection and supervisory bodies (for example MoLSAF SR, MoD SR, MoI SR,MoJ SR, MoH SR, MoE SR).
•	To determine relevant areas in which it is necessary to deepen the professional qualification and knowledge of employees performing the inspection and supervision (for example MoLSAF SR, MoD SR, MoI SR,MoJ SR, MoH SR, MoE SR).
•	To prepare, implement and promote the project “Pre-change Learning of OSH”, the purpose of which is to point out the most significant current conditions for ensuring OSH in the performance of the pertinent work planned for that day – especially to identify risks and to review pertinent safe work procedures (for example AEUA SR, NEU).
•	To prepare, implement and promote the project “Protect Your Life and Health”, implemented in the form of post-its, tables, stickers, etc. at workplaces containing a limited number of warnings regarding danger and safe work procedures for different work activities (for example AEUA SR, NEU).
•	To create space for the facilitation of information exchange regarding prevention, best OSH practice (for example AEUA SR and NEU for its members).
•	To implement a national and regional information and motivation campaign regarding the OSH Concept before the beginning of the OSH Concept implementation and annually (for example MoLSAF SR, MpH SR, MoD SR, MoI SR, AEUA SR, NEU, CTU SR).
•	To occasionally carry out supervision specifically targeted on the working conditions of foreigners, women, adolescents and older employees (for example MoLSAF SR, MoH SR).
•	To prepare campaigns and subsequently carry out thematic supervision tasks for the performance of documentation coordinator and safety coordinator (MoLSAF SR).
•	To increase the amount and frequency of supervision activities including follow up supervision activities at employers’ workplaces in sectors and in the case of jobs with a higher incidence of health damage, and in the case of repeated or continued shortcomings, to apply distinctive financial sanctions. 
•	To submit significant cases of health damage (occupational accidents and occupational diseases) in which serious violations of legal regulations for ensuring OSH are revealed, for criminal proceedings at the pertinent authorities.    
•	To intensify the performance of labor inspection and supervisory activities through their orientation on the system elements of labor protection. 
•	To promote the enhancement of the quality of the working environment through more intense inspection and supervisory activities targeted on ensuring health and safety at work with chemical substances and agents (REACH agenda).
•	To promote the enlargement and establishment of a labor health service and the enhancement of the quality of its activities for the benefit of employers.  For this purpose, to carry out an analysis of the real status of experts able to ensure the labor health service pursuant to valid legislation, based on an analysis to propose measures for educating experts in the field of labor medicine and also to continuously monitor and assess the quality and effectiveness of the performance of the labor health service (for example MoH SR, MoEdu SR).
•	To prepare and implement a project involving the basic and repeated OSH training of representatives of employees targeted especially on employers from sectors with a higher incidence of health damage at work. 
•	To identify the main dangers arising from the special activities of armed forces and the methods of their management (for example MoD SR, MoI SR, MoJ SR).
•	To carry out a survey of attitudes of employers and employees towards OSH in connection with the application of the OSH Concept. 
•	To propose the “Project of OSH Financial Support” for financing activities necessary for the OSH including prevention and for the financing of the OSH Concept activities; to ensure the selection of tasks implemented from the financial support of the project (AEUA SR, NEU).
•	To provide media promotion of the positive and negative OSH facts, such as the improvement of working conditions, new technologies and equipment, decreases in the number of occupational accidents and occupational diseases, ineffective expenditures for the elimination of damage, the revocation of trade licenses, etc.  
•	To promote dissemination and the introduction of experience from best OSH practice and to annually award a selected OSH activity of employers in the structure of sectors and according the employer’s size. 
•	To design own programs for ensuring the fulfillment of priorities of the OSH Concept including the measures and tasks incorporated in its annexes No. 1 up to No. 3 (participating institutions). 

Annex No. 4

Some Measures and Tasks of Employers for Decreasing the Number of Occupational  Accidents in the SR in 2008 up to 2012

In the interest of the further development of OSH care, it is recommended that employers suitably elaborate and apply the following measures besides others:

•	To improve the application of OSH standards among employers and self employed natural persons; for this purpose 
- the existence of definite, strong and obvious support of statutory bodies and other managers in favor of the solution of working conditions including ensuring the OSH is essential,   
- management must have a concept of actual active OSH care; it must regularly and conscientiously assess the implementation and achievement of established objectives. 
•	To significantly improve the organization of work with an emphasis on preparing for work performance since occupational accidents, occupational diseases and unsuitable working conditions often arise due to incorrect work organization.  
•	To carry out organizational measures such as implementing risk analyses or re-evaluations of existing risk management systems, improving preventive control and maintenance of equipment and buildings, applying qualification requirements for employees, increasing the number of employees in monitored activities, adjustment work and rest regime, introducing safety breaks, deepening of the control of adherence to safety requirements and others. 
•	The complex character of OSH care and its application at all management levels, in the case of supplier-customer relations and especially in the case of ensuring of new working process input, such as new semi-products and substances, transportation means, means of production and employees, constitutes a significant element of prevention.  
•	To systematically monitor and manage the quality of working conditions, the OSH status including the safety of technical equipment, working environment and work procedures. 
•	To use economic instruments in favor of enhancing the OSH level: in a positive way – bonuses, and in a negative way – financial fines for the failure to adhere to requirements for ensuring OSH and others.  
•	To plan and implement adequate social conditions, such as creating conditions for social wellbeing, improved social relationships, stress elimination, mobbing elimination and others. 
•	To conscientiously apply material technical and technological measures, such as equipment reconstruction, adjustment of technological procedures, regular technical diagnostics, replacing physically demanding work with technical means, replacing harmful substances, increasing the quality of personal protective working means, and others. 
•	To pay increased attention to the ergonomics of the working environment; we are referring to quality display units, suitable chairs and work tables and office space illumination.  
•	To carry out health-hygiene measures, such as testing of the mental, physical and health capacity for work, regular preventative medical checkups in relation to work, the measurement of harmful agents, the provision of protective drinks, the improvement of indicators of the working environment – illumination, air flow, temperature and others.  
•	To conscientiously implement upbringing and education and information measures, such as initial and repeated training, instruction to the working place, model situation training, testing of knowledge and information regarding work risks and protection from them, employee consulting and others.  
•	In the case of employers
- to provide for adequate management training,
- to prepare and implement programs for the training of risk groups of employees for the   safe handling of extraordinary situations, for example 
1.	for diplomatic personnel and their families in dealing with kidnappings and terrorist attacks, if they are sent to dangerous areas  
2.	for employees of financial institutions, post offices, jewelry shops, gas stations, etc. in handling robberies. 

•	To activate the activities of the Commission for OSH and cooperation with employee representatives for OSH.
•	To prepare and implement the “Guardianship Project” within the framework of which the top representatives of an employer will meet at a working session regarding actual OSH issues with the representatives of its suppliers and cooperating legal persons and natural persons. 
•	To prepare and implement the “Guardianship Project” within the framework of which the professional employees of employers for OSH will prepare seminars for potential future employees of the employer, current pupils and students on OSH topics with a special orientation on pupils and students finishing their preparation for professions and on selected questions related to their entry into professional life.