Green light for occupational safety

Many Hungarian employers are not adhering to occupational safety regulations, not because they do not want to do so or even due to financial reasons, but simply because they do not know the rules. This is the finding of occupational safety inspectors. The Labour Safety Act states that enterprises must employ an occupational safety specialist but many employers are unaware of this. The occupational safety information service provides details of the relevant regulations.

Legislation in Hungary stipulates the need for an occupational safety information service, operated by the state. The Labour Safety Act (Act XCIII of 1993) (in Hungarian) sets out that the state must: ‘e) provide an annual report of the national economy’s occupational safety, make the statements public, and develop and organise an occupational safety information service’ (14. §(1))

Although the principle is thus enshrined in law, its practical realisation - by means of more concrete legislation and financial funding - was not operational for some years. The Employment and Labour Minister’s order of May 2002 (XI. 12.) (in Hungarian) aimed at tackling this problem. It suggested that 50% of the money collected from occupational safety penalties could be used to run the state occupational safety information service (Munkavédelmi Információs Rendszer/MIR). The rest of the income could be used as a form of competition in order to encourage greater activity in the area of occupational safety.

As mentioned, the information service (MIR) is run by the state as a public service. It offers help to small and medium-sized enterprises particularly, and is expected to react quickly and to provide relevant and correct information. The service is free and available at all times. Its focus is broadly based and does not generally encompass specialised occupational activities.

Services available

The occupational safety information service operates as three individual units:

• Hungarian Labour Inspectorate (HLI) - safety at work;

• National Public Health and Medical Officer Service (NPHMOS) - health at work;

• Mining Bureau of Hungary (MBH) - focusing on the interests of the mining sector.

So far, the MIR is available as a telephone service. It is thus possible to ensure the anonymity of callers making enquiries. The MIR records the personal data of the telephone caller only with their consent. The information that the service provides cannot contain any advertising or promotional material that could threaten fair competition or raise the suspicion of partisanship.

This information service has been operating since 7 June 2003 within the remit of the HLI. They keep a record of the date of calls, reference number, subject, summary of the information provided, the occupational safety rules in question, name of caller (if known), the workplace and occupation of the caller, and the operator’s name.

Experiences so far

Initially, news of the information service was spread on an informal basis. This was followed by an official advertising campaign, which resulted in a considerable increase in the number of callers.