Health and safety catalogue
Which requirements must organisations satisfy with respect to health and safety in the workplace? The government no longer describes these in detail, but has instead established frameworks in so-called 'provisions'. These are general descriptions of the desired level of protection during the work.
Employers and employees may determine how they satisfy the provisions from the Working Conditions Act. However, they must clearly record these agreements in a Health and Safety Catalogue that they develop themselves. The agreements cover most important health and safety risks in the sector concerned and how those must be managed. The Inspectorate SZW (part of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment) assesses the content of the Health and Safety Catalogue. After approval by the Inspectorate SZW, the organisations concerned must set up and shape the working conditions in accordance with the standard.
NWO-I together with the research institutions (NWO-I, SRON, ASTRON, CWI and the National Library of the Netherlands [KB]) that are affiliated with the Employers' Organisation Research Institutes (WVOI) have drawn up a Health and Safety Catalogue with six chapters that have all been approved by the Inspectorate SZW:
The Health and Safety Catalogue Research Institutes contains in any case the following six chapters:
- Computer Work
- Electricity
- Psychosocial Workload
- In-House Emergency Response
- Refurbishment and New Buildings
- Internal Climate
All chapters have the same uniform structure. Following an explanation about the subject, the risks in the workplace are described together with the measures that can reduce these risks. Recommendations in the Health and Safety Catalogue have been made as concrete as possible with checklists and best practices. The Functional Consultation Work Conditions and Environment (FO-AM) shall further translate the Health and Safety Catalogue into concrete NWO-I policy. The health and safety coordinators of the institutes are responsible for the implementation. The Health and Safety Catalogue (only available in Dutch) can be consulted via the WVOI website.
The catalogue will be updated in response to new legislation or new (scientific) insights. This updating will take place via the network of collaborating health and safety coordinators who work at the research institutions affiliated with WVOI.
The WVOI employers have the duty to comply with the health and safety catalogue and keep this update. Where necessary, additional agreements can be made at the local level.