Eastern Countries in Transition to the European Union

Abstract

The period of transformation has caused several changes in the area of occupational safety and health (OSH). Among the most important are

• a “diffusion” of the entities shaping OSH (about 96% of enterprises are small and medium-sized);

• new priorities of OSH (in addition to the reduction of technical hazards in the working environment, the problems of stress have gained importance);

• changes in the job market (unemployment, the need for “multi-occupation” education, new principles of determining the ability to work);

• changes in the system of accident and occupational diseases insurance (a variable insurance premium that depends on the working conditions);

• modification of the system of supervising working conditions (from inspections to auditing systems of occupational risk assessment and OSH management).

The introduction of those changes is, in principle, evolutionary. In many cases, however, it is “revolutionary” in a positive sense of the word.