'SMEs know too little about the new Working Conditions Act'

“There is still work to be done among SMEs,” says State Secretary Tamara van Ark. In June 2018, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) investigated the extent to which small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies are familiar with the updated Working Conditions Act. According to SZW, knowledge among SMEs is lagging behind.

Renewed Working Conditions Act

The updated Working Conditions Act came into effect on July 1, 2017 and the transitional arrangement ended a year later. Since July 1, 2018, all employers must meet the requirements of the updated Working Conditions Act.

The updated law places more emphasis on prevention. For example, the role of the prevention officer has been strengthened and more attention is paid to occupational diseases and work-related health complaints. The new law also strengthens the involvement of employers and employees and improves the preconditions for the actions of the company doctor.

SMEs not well informed

Just before the end of the transitional arrangement, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment asked 'occupational health and safety influencers' whether they were aware of the changes to the Working Conditions Act. We were also asked to what extent the changes had already been implemented in the organization. Occupational health influencers include prevention officers, works council members and HR employees.

According to Van Ark, this is not yet well organised, especially for SMEs. Three in five occupational health and safety influencers know that the Working Conditions Act has been changed a month before the final introduction, but do not know exactly what the changes are. Also, not all provisions have yet been implemented in the organization.

The research shows a clear difference between SMEs and large companies: “Large companies have more knowledge about the law and have implemented provisions of the law better than SMEs.”

Basic contract, company doctor, prevention officer and RI&E

The research shows that there is still too little knowledge about a number of key points in the updated Working Conditions Act, but that occupational health and safety influencers do need more information:

• More information is needed about the introduction of the mandatory basic contract and about hiring a company doctor, according to the occupational health and safety influencers at the time of the study.
• The occupational health and safety influencers indicate that they do not know most of the tasks of the prevention officer. This certainly applies to SMEs.
• More than half of all occupational health and safety influencers say that a prevention officer has been appointed within the organization. This is on average less common among SMEs.
• A quarter of occupational health and safety influencers say that a Risk Inventory and Evaluation (RI&E) has been carried out in the past two years. Almost a quarter plan to do so.

Does your company meet all requirements?

If your company does not meet all the requirements of the updated Working Conditions Act, you risk fines that can be quite significant. Of this free checklist from ArboNed you can see how you are doing.

FHI has one cooperation with industry specialist ArboNed.

Source: Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment