Summary
Cross-sector meeting who held Serbian Association for occupational safety and health on 28.02.2017. as a part of the project „Increasing capacities and strengthening role of CSOs for improving labour conditions and labour dialogue with public institutions²primarily aimed to establish cooperation between public institutions and civil society organizations.
Participation took representatives of public institutions, such as director of OSH directorate – Ministry of work, employment and social policy – Ms. Vera Bozic Trefalt, representative of Serbian Association of employers – Sector of preventive engineering – Mr. Nebojsa Miletic, representatives of media organizations such as „Stakleno zvono“, „Svet rada“, „IPA MEDIA“, representatives of OSH CSOs, representatives of the Labour Inspection, representatives of Higher Education Institutions, then the president of the Social and Economic Council of Serbia, experts of occupational medicine, as well as other OSH experts .The total number of participants is 23.
Framework topics
At the meeting were discussed various issues in the OSH field, such as the existing legislation, strategy on occupational safety and health, future directions of reforms in the OSH system in the Republic of Serbia as well as recommendations for removal of administrative barriers to business in OSH system.
The meeting presented an excellent opportunity to exchange an ideas, informations and experiences, challenges in OSH system and working conditions in order to improve the situation in OSH field, primarly trought effective collaboration with public institutions.
The director of the occupational safety and health Directorate – Ministry of Work,Employment and Social policy Ms. Vera Bozic Trefalt presented the existing OSH system in the Republic of Serbia, the new regulations that came into force, a critical industry in terms of injuries at work, work of labour inspection and the importance of the participation of civil society organizations in the decision-making process.
President of Serbian Association for occupational safety and health, Mr. Dragoslav Tomovic presented the analysis of occupational safety and health in the Republic of Serbia from the point of Serbian Association for occupational safety and health with special emphasis on National Programme for the adoption of the Acquis – NPAA and report from screening of Chapter 19: Social policy and employment, requirements in terms of transposing the EU directives into national legislation, the lessons learned through the implementation of a preventive approach in industry. Among other things, he pointed out that the implementation of EU directives is a very complex process that takes a lot of time and qualified experts for the implementation and transposition of the OSH Directives.
Namely, the system of occupational safety and health in Serbia is regulated by occupational safety and health Law, for whose development was as far as possible applied requirements of Directive 89/391/EEC on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work – OSH „Framework Directive², as well as subordinate regulations are transposed into national legislation of individual EU directives that were adopted on the basis of Directive 89/391/EEC and other regulations in the field of safety and health at work – about 25 Rules and 5 Regulations.
The analysis shows that the the Serbian legislation is partially aligned with the acquis in the field of social policy and employment.
We are currently working on further harmonization of legislation in this area with the EU legal acquis. It is necessary to resolute action in order to achieve progress in the harmonization of legislation and to solve the critical situation on the labour market, including working without contract. “Mr. Dragoslav Tomovic, president of the Serbian Association for occupational safety and health”.
He also stressed the importance and role of occupational medicine, as well as the importance of improving the situation in the OSH field particularly through OSH trainings, challenges related to the implementation of laws and regulations and increase awareness of the importance of good practices that will be realized through the participation and networking of all relevant institutions, stakeholders and civil society organizations in the decision making process.
Conclusions
From the discussion it is recognized that is necessary to achieve the strategic goals of the improvements in the OSH field and labour conditions. Especially it is necessary to consider the remaining shortcomings in implementing and transposing legislation to make the most of new opportunities, developed a special analysis of the situation and what should be defined as the Action Plan an integral part of the National Strategy.
In the realization of the OSH Strategy one of the specific objectives is the adoption of laws, sub-laws and other OSH regulation in order to comply with EU regulations and the ILO, as well as their implementation and at the same time encouraging social partners that issues on safety and health at work primarily should be regulated through collective bargaining system. In the process of accession of Serbia to the EU it is necessary to continue to work on the harmonization of legislation with the EU directives and in accordance with the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis – NPAA.
According to the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis 2014-2018 in terms of harmonization of legislation 2018 is planned adoption of the new Law on Safety and Health at Work, which will ensure further alignment with Council Directive 89/391 / EEC on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work. Full compliance will be achieved through the adoption of the new Law on Safety and Health at Work and regulations.
Also it is necessary to ensure a well-functioning and transparent social dialogue. It will be necessary to devote constant attention to the planning of the operations in the field of social policy and employment, as well as the capacity of Serbia for implementation and enforcement, given that the need to strengthen the administrative capacity to EU acquis is properly applied. It is necessary to provide sufficient financial resources, in the field of employment and safety and health at work.
The provisions of the Law on Safety and Health at Work relating to occupational health services in practice not find his application, so that the occupational medicine, which should be the basis of prevention and health care of employees remained at the margins of safety and health at work. After the changes in the Law on Health Insurance, since 2009, the largest number of specialists in occupational medicine working as chosen doctors.
