Latvia's State Labour Inspectorate (VDI) is the main institution responsible for supervision and monitoring of the implementation of employment and health and safety law. This article examines the Inspectorate's legal basis, activities and programme for 2004. The number of infringements of regulations recorded by the VDI is falling and the vast majority of the problems identified are rectified swiftly. The number of submissions and complaints made by employees to the VDI is rising, which indicates that trust in the institution is growing.
The State Labour Inspectorate (Valsts Darba inspekcija, VDI) is the state supervisory and control institution whose task is the supervision and monitoring of the observance in companies and organisations of laws and related 'normative' acts in the fields of labour, health and safety, employment and the technical supervision of dangerous equipment.
The legal framework for the VDI’s work is the 2001 State Labour Inspectorate Law and the 2001 Cabinet Regulation No. 158, Order for the State Labour Inspectorate. In accordance with the law and cabinet regulation, the VDI performs the following functions:
There are seven regional inspectorates (Reģionālā Valsts darba inspekcija, RVDIs) operating under the authority of the VDI - the Riga RVDI, Eastern Vidzeme RVDI, Northern Vidzeme RVDI, Southern RVDI, Zemgale RVDI, Kurzeme RVDI and Latgale RVDI.
On 8 August 2003, a cooperation agreement between the Baltic countries was concluded, which runs for five years. The agreement calls for the common resolution of certain issues, and for information exchange between the labour inspectorates of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
The VDI’s main area of activity is inspection. Inspection is a complicated task involving preventative action, training inspectors and raising their qualifications, analysing the results of inspections, and performing emergency measures.
There are 113,000 enterprises, institutions and organisations under the supervision of the VDI, which employ a total of 912,000 people (about 90% of the total workforce.) The number of organisations subject to supervision is increasing. In the course of a year, the VDI visits roughly 10,000 enterprises. The Inspectorate is establishing a rating system encompassing evaluations of enterprises based on the results of preventative inspections.
In its inspections, the VDI pays special attention to activities involving dangerous equipment. In accordance with national legislation, the VDI’s duty is to register, re-register and supervise the operation of dangerous equipment in enterprises, organisations and institutions. The VDI has established a market supervision section to help enterprises avoid purchasing and installing equipment that does not comply with the law. Heightened attention is currently being paid to the market supervision of pressurised equipment and boilers, lifts and other equipment.
The VDI has the right to suspend the operation of an organisation if conditions dangerous to employees’ health and safety are discovered as the result of an inspection. In the first half of 2003, the VDI suspended five production plants and units and 209 machines and installations. In the event of less important infringements, the VDI issues warnings or imposes fines. The VDI notes that compliance in the industrial relations and work safety field is improving, but the number of accidents is still quite high (LV0404102N) - in 2003 there were 145 accidents for every 100,000 people employed.
Under the auspices of it preventative work, the VDI conducts pre-emptive visits to companies and a range of examinations in large enterprises. Visits to uncover illegal work are conducted in conjunction with the State Revenue Service (Valsts Ieņēmumu dienests, VID).
A second significant area of activity is participation in the improvement of legislation. The VDI cooperates with the Ministry of Welfare and Ministry of the Interior in the development and improvement of the normative base for legislation pertaining to employment, health and safety and dangerous equipment, cooperates with the Technical Standards Committee (Standartu tehniskā komiteja, STK) in the area of standards in accordance with the Standardisation Law, and participates in the preparation of methodological materials.
In order to improve the quality of its work, a quality assurance and management system is being established in the VDI and regular examinations of VDI regional sections are conducted.
In accordance with article 3 section 2 paragraph 15 of the State labour Inspectorate Law, the VDI is responsible for the establishment of the National Contact Point for the European Work Safety and Health Agency and providing for its operation. In 2003 the VDI established a public relations section, which is responsible for matters relating to the development and maintenance of the National Contact Point for the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. In early 2003 a website was created for the National Contact Point. Its purpose is to facilitate the implementation of new regulations and to develop understanding about health and safety issues. Social partner organisations are invited to participate in the National Contact Point’s information campaigns.
A VDI information system has been created. The system utilises 196 computing units, which have mainly been purchased under the auspices of the state investment programme. In addition to the National Contact Point site, the VDI also has a primary website.
To ensure the swifter implementation of laws and a better understanding of them, the VDI provides consultations and organises information events for employers regarding the Employment Law and the Employment Protection Law, and provides explanations about work environment risk evaluation. An employers’ handbook has been prepared under the EU PHARE programme, which explains industrial relations issues.
The VDI has concluded cooperation agreements with 10 other state institutions. The most active cooperation is with the VID and the National Social Insurance Agency (Valsts sociālās apdrošināšanas aģentūra, VSAA), the State Education Inspectorate (Izglītības valsts inspekcija, IVI), the State Sanitation Inspectorate (Valsts sanitārā inspekcija, VSI), the State Employment Service (Nodarbinātības valsts dienests, NVD), city and district governments, the state police and trade unions. The VDI cooperates with the mass media by providing information about industrial relations and health and safety issues, workplace accidents and work-related illnesses and their causes, and the VDI’s activities. In the first half of 2003, the VDI started informing the media about the work of the National Contact Point. The VDI prepares answers to the questions of readers of several national newspapers (Rīgas Balss, Lauku avīze, Večerņaja Riga and others) regarding industrial relations issues.
The VDI sets priorities for every year - in 2002, for example, the priority was timber-processing enterprises. Some sectors, such as construction, are under the permanent supervision of the VDI. A VDI representative regularly participates in the work of the Construction Licensing Committee. For preventative purposes, the VDI would like to participate in the approval process required to allow buildings to become operational.
The VDI’s responsibilities also include examining submissions and complaints made by people and organisations. Every year the number of submissions and complaints increases. For example, in the first half of 2003, the VDI examined 1,464 submissions - more than in the first half of 2002. Some 84.1% of submissions related to employment law issues, chiefly about payment for work in cases where an employer dismisses an employee, and payment for overtime and night work. It is significant that employees mainly submit their complaints after the termination of their employment relationship. The VDI does not resolve disputes - which is the role of the courts - but only recommends the best path to resolution.
According to VDI data for the first half of 2003, 19.3% of detected infringements in this period were industrial relations infringements (ie non-observance of the Employment Law). Typical of these were failure to conclude employment contracts with employees or their incomplete or inaccurate conclusion (31.1% of industrial relations infringements) and infringements relating to work payments, specifically unpaid overtime, unpaid holidays and delays in wage payments (19% of industrial relations infringements).
Some 80.7% of infringements were connected with non-observance of health and safety legislation. Infringements of an organisational nature make up 77.5% of the total, for example: companies without health and safety systems; failure to develop introductory instructions and instructions in the workplace; employees not being instructed; and failure to evaluate work risk factors. Infringements of a technical nature make up 22.5% of the total - eg use of workbenches without protective barriers, failure to train workbench operators or infringements in the operation of dangerous equipment.
It is significant that the rate of rectifying infringements detected by the VDI is very high - of infringements detected in the first half of 2003, 97.7% were subsequently rectified within a deadline. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the VDI’s work. On the other hand, the number of questions raised in consultations and the content of submissions indicate that many employers are still not aware of the existence of regulations and their responsibility to implement them, while employees lack information about their responsibilities and rights in terms of industrial relations.
The VDI has prepared a programme of activities for 2004. This has been developed on the basis of an analysis of the situation in the health and safety sphere, the VDI’s strategic plan, the state investment strategy for the welfare sector for 2004-8, and the European Union’s work safety protection strategy for 2002-6.
In 2004 the VDI’s priority is supervision of the domestic employment environment. This choice is based on the high number of accidents linked to the neglect of work safety requirements. The level of neglect of work safety worries a number of trade unions (LV0403104F). Supervision of the domestic employment environment has also been chosen because, as a European Union Member State from 1 May 2004, Latvia must create a health and system able to ensure compliance with EU criteria. The necessary reform of the national health and safety system has started (LV0308101N).
Statistics show that since 1995, when there were 173 work accidents per 100,000 employees, the situation improved in the late 1990s (135/100,000 in 1998) but has since worsened again (150/100,000 in 2002 and 145/100,000 in 2003). It appears that by itself the reform of the institutional basis does not mean that employers will comply with work safety measures. In several sectors, especially those without strong trade unions, the work safety issue is not even discussed.
The VDI's director, Jānis Bērziņš, has stated that in 2004 the VDI wants to facilitate the implementation of preventative safety and health measures in companies, and to reduce the number of accidents by 5% nationally. To implement this stated aim, in 2004 the VDI plans to visit 9,200 enterprises. An information campaign has already been started. In conjunction with the Ministry of Welfare and the Latvian Employers’ Confederation (Latvijas Darba devēju konfederācija, LDDK), at the start of 2004 an exhibition was held as part of the European Week for Safety and Health at Work (LV0403104F). An inspection campaign is also planned. As in 2003, in September 2004 visits are planned to a large number of construction firms.
The VDI will continue to provide for the operation of the National Contact Point for the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. In this area, the priorities set for 2004 are the construction sector, the application of health and safety legislation, and work environment risk evaluation.
In 2004 the VDI will continue to develop its enterprise supervision process and adapt its inspection methods for the practical application of legislation.
The VDI is the body to which both employers and employees can turn to if anything is unclear in terms of employment and health and safety law. Its existence and the quality of its work formally guarantees that industrial relations and employment are in accordance with the law. The VDI’s services are free of charge. However, in practice the help of the VDI is sought less than it should be, taking into account the extent of infringements of the relevant regulations. There are frequent cases in which employees seeking the defence of their rights choose another institution, such as the State Human Rights Bureau (Valsts cilvēktiesību birojs, VCB), rather than the VDI.
It can be concluded from this that employees still lack information about the opportunities afforded by the VDI for defending employment rights. Experience shows that employers, which are better informed about employment legislation, more frequently utilise VDI consultations in order pre-emptively to avert conflicts with employees. However, the increasing number of applications made to the VDI indicates that trust in it is growing. (Raita Karnite, Institute of Economics, Latvian Academy of Sciences)