Launch of national strategy on health and safety at work 2008–2013

In October 2008, the Government of Romania (Guvernul României) approved, by decision, the National Strategy and the Action Plan regarding Health and Safety at Work for the period 2008-2013. The actions to be taken under the strategy and the action plan will be monitored by the National Tripartite Committee for Health and Safety at Work.

European and national context

In Europe, health and safety at work policies aim to protect workers’ lives, physical, mental and social integrity and well-being against occupational accidents and diseases.

The aim of the ‘[Community strategy 2007–2012 on health and safety at work](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT TA P6-TA-2008-0009 0 DOC XML V0//EN)’, adopted by European Parliament resolution, is ‘the continuous, sustainable and uniform reduction of accidents at work and professional hazards’. Its target is a 25% reduction in workplace accidents across the EU.

Starting from these European objectives, the Romanian National Strategy 2008-2013 regarding Safety and Health at Work encompasses priorities and objectives for the short and medium term, in line with the EU Strategy.

The main aim of the Romanian strategy is to ‘constantly and significantly reduce the number of workplace accidents and professional hazards, and to permanently improve the level of safety and health at work’.

This objective becomes all the more necessary as the rate of new cases of workplace accidents and professional illnesses between 2004 and 2007, though diminishing, was still high, while the average number of working days lost due to accidents rose in the same period (from 66.5 days to 71.7 days).

According to official statistics, the most common workplace hazards are musculoskeletal problems and exposure to noise.

The sectors that have the highest number of accidents, and featured a higher exposure to risk factors include: construction, coal mining, metal working, garment industry, agriculture.

Contents of the strategy and the action plan

The strategy is the result of a consensus, and provides a common platform to address health and safety at work through the contribution of the social partners. The strategy’s objectives necessitate the active participation in coherent actions of all stakeholders.

In the strategy, the social partners adhere to the need to develop a preventive culture. They all agree that safe and healthy jobs can ensure the growth of the competitiveness of companies, and that prevention activities and measures to sustain them are important and should be taken at workplace level.

The strategy also makes reference to:

• the legal and institutional framework;

• social partnerships in this domain;

• funding of the measures and actions, and the sources of finance;

• strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Among the weaknesses identified in the strategy are the following: insufficient development of a prevention culture; deficiencies of institutional communication; poor cooperation between the social partners; lack of guidance on such matters; and the existence of outmoded technologies.

The strategy sets out general principles the specific objectives and actions, and expected results.

The 2008-2013 national action plan includes seven specific objectives, starting from the continuous improvement of the level of health and safety at work (which contains a list of 11 actions); methodological guidance to employers for the implementation and accomplishment of prevention and protection measures (5 actions); developing awareness among stakeholders (3 actions); inclusion of health and safety at work issues in educational and vocational training curricula; cooperation between authorities, institutions, and social partners; development and strengthening of the institutional and scientific research capacities in the field.

Three ministries are involved in carrying out the objectives of the strategy: labour, health, and education, as well as the Labour Inspection Office (Inspecţia Muncii, IM), National House of Pensions and Other Social Insurance Rights (Casa Naţională de Pensii şi alte Drepturi de Asigurări Sociale, CNDPAS), and a research institute specialising in labour issues.

Commentary

The viewpoint of the authors is that the participation of the social partners in the drafting of the strategy and in subsequent developments, such as the monitoring of the actions and measures undertaken as a result, through the National Tripartite Committee for Health and Safety at Work, is welcome.

The strategy is backed by a budget of around EUR 6 million, contributed to, in approximately equal shares, by sources from the state budget of the state social insurance budget.

The strategy does not indicate other direct funding sources from employers, in addition to those paid pro rata to their wage fund obligations. An estimation of the extent of such funds would be useful in order to estimate the total extra financial funding supporting this initiative.

Constantin Ciutacu, Institute of National Economy, Romanian Academy