Risk Inventory and Evaluation with Plan of Action
The Working Conditions Act (Arbeidsomstandighedenwet) has been in force in the Netherlands since 1 January 2007. This act contains the legal obligation of every company with employees to investigate whether the work conducted could be hazardous or detrimental to the health of employees. A Risk Inventory and Evaluation (RI&E) and the Plan of Action are important building blocks for ensuring good working conditions and effective sickness absence policy. In the Plan of Action, the employer must indicate the period within which his/her company will take concrete measures to counteract any identified risks, and what the results of these measures will be. Every year, the employer must report to the employee representative body with regard to the implementation of the Plan of Action.
Recently, a Risk Inventory and Evaluation (RI&E) was carried out for ESE. For these purposes, a variety of activities was conducted by Maetis BV, an independent organisation in the field of occupational health and safety.
- A tour of the H-building was conducted to create an inventory of all risks (checks of exits, workstation set-up, cabling etc.).
- In-depth interviews were conducted with eight randomly selected employees of each organisational unit (the four departments, the ESC and the Administration Office).
- The HR department provided a variety of information upon which the RI&E was partly based. This kind of information includes sickness absence information, staff details, staff turnover, details regarding eligibility for invalidity benefit, usage of complaints procedures and information from the occupational health and safety service.
The RI&E, together with the Plan of Action compiled by ESE can be found in this document. In the Plan of Action, the schedule is documented according to which the concrete measures will be implemented in order to minimise the identified risks. The plan has been split into one section that ESE itself can conduct and one section that must be implemented throughout EUR as a whole. The plan was created in consultation with the Personnel Council (PGFR) who approved the priorities set and the activities planned. In agreement with the employee representatives an annual update will be given regarding the progress of the activities documented in the Plan of Action. With the agreement of the PGFR at December 15 2010, this Plan of Action is officially confirmed.
The RI&E clearly shows that the number of work-related health and safety risks within H Block is negligible. The most prominent issues are the provision of occupational health and safety information to employees and the correct set-up of VDU workstations. Concrete measures have been included in the Plan of Action to deal with these issues. For each organisational unit, one member of the supporting staff has been appointed as health and safety officer. This employee’s main responsibility will be to ensure that workstations are properly adjusted. In the spring of 2011, these employees will complete a specialist course pertaining to this function, after which they will be fully qualified to advise employees with regard to chair/table height and screen adjustment. The HR department will function as a secondary point of contact with regard to health and safety.
The Executive Board of EUR has been asked to handle a number of EUR-wide issues raised in the RI&E. A number of these issues take particular priority (cleaning, air conditioning, lighting, disabled access). The Executive Board is asked to keep the informed regarding the content of the Plan of Action created for the H-Building. This way ESE employees can be adequately informed of the measures that will be taken and the time frame within which they must be carried out.
For any questions one can contact the HR department.
