HEALTH AND SAFETY LAW
| NETHERLANDS |
| ARBEIDSOMSTANDIGHEDENRECHT HEALTH AND SAFETY LAW |
Term signifying the entire range of public-law rules directed at protecting employees against influences connected with their work which endanger their health, safety and well-being. The two major statutes in this field up till now have been the 1919 Labour Act and the 1980 Working Conditions Act , applying in principle to all activities. Others also exist which apply only to specific activities, such as the 1936 Drivers' Hours Act (Rijtijdenwet) and the 1963 Nuclear Power Act (Kernenergiewet). Both general and specific health and safety legislation falls within the domain of public law, and violation of the provisions is a punishable offence.
The Labour Act dealt with the permissible total length of working life and daily and weekly working hours and rest periods, and also contained several specific provisions on the protection of young workers and women. As from 1 January 1996 it has been replaced by a new Working Hours Act.
The Working Conditions Act was introduced in 1980 to replace the 1934 Safety Act (Veiligheidswet). Unlike the Safety Act, the Working Conditions Act is not confined to the protection of employees against health and safety hazards: its objective is broader, i.e. the promotion of humane working conditions (quality of work). Given this breadth of scope, the Act takes the form of a framework law, with many of its Articles requiring more detailed implementing regulations to be enacted to give them practical meaning. In the earlier Safety Act, the employee had been viewed as a passive object of protection. By contrast, the Working Conditions Act takes as its starting point the principle that the employer must involve employees in the formulation of health and safety policy within the enterprise. To this end, employers are under an obligation to consult the works council in advance on the policy to be followed. In practice, this consultation is often conducted through a health and safety committee of the works council (commissie voor veiligheid, gezondheid en welzijn ).
An important new area of health and safety policy is policy on sickness absenteeism . Under the 1980 Act, all employers are required to include in their company policy measures to avoid or reduce absenteeism and to monitor employees who are ill, and since 1 March 1996 they have been given an incentive to do so by the change from public to private provision for sick pay (see sickness benefit ). Although the Act itself does not specify the content of such a policy, what is envisaged probably includes an efficient reporting and recording system and measures to assist the speedy return to work of these employees, such as modifications to the workplace or transfer to a more appropriate post. In future, for such purposes employers are required to follow the advice of an officially recognized Health and Safety Service (Arbodienst). Responsibility for the enforcement of health and safety law lies with the officials of the Labour Inspectorate, now incorporated into the I-SZW .
Please note: the European industrial relations glossaries were compiled between 1991 and 2003 and are not updated. For current material see the European industrial relations dictionary.