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Introduction 

National strategies are vital policy instruments to enhance the effectiveness of an OSH system by defining the key priorities and actions for improving workers’ health and safety.

The Commission called on the Member States to update and draw up their national OSH strategies in line with the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2021-2027 - in cooperation with social partners - to ensure that the new measures are applied on the ground. 

In Denmark, the Danish Working Environment Authority is responsible for ensuring compliance with occupational health and safety legislation which applies in respect of all occupations in Denmark. It is empowered with supervision and enforcement rights, which are commonly designated to labour inspectorates in other countries. The three main fields of activity are:

  • Carrying out inspections in companies
  • Drawing up OSH rules
  • Providing OSH information

More information on the OSH systems can be found in the relevant OSHwiki articles on national OSH systems.

Basic information on the national OSH strategy 

The last strategy “En strategi for arbejdsmiljøindsatsen frem til 2020[1] (A strategy for working environment efforts up to 2020)[2] was based on the evaluation of past strategies and a report on the working environment up to 2020. For the time being, Denmark is not working on a new general Danish OSH-strategy. However, a broad majority in the Danish Parliament has agreed to strengthen the working environment efforts which are laid down in the new Political Agreement from March 2023. 

The new Political Agreement “Aftale om fremtidssikret arbejdsmiljøindsats og indsats mod social dumping 2023[3] (Agreement on a future-proofed working environment and efforts against social dumping)” replaces the previous Political Agreements on occupational safety and health and provides the direction until 2027. 

The former strategies:

  • Aftale om en ny og forbedret arbejdsmiljøindsats og ordnede forhold på arbejdsmarkedet (2019) (Agreement on new and improved occupational safety and health initiatives and orderly labour-market conditions)[4]
  • Aftale om en styrket arbejdsmiljøindsats – alle har ret til et sikkert og sundt arbejdsmiljø (2015) (Agreement on stronger health and safety initiatives – everyone is entitled to a safe and healthy working environment)
  • Aftale om en ny strategi for arbejdsmiljøindsatsen frem til 2020 (2011) (Agreement on a new strategy for health and safety initiatives up to 2020)

Background and the perceived problem 

The new Political Agreement highlights that “Everyone in Denmark should have a safe and healthy working environment in a sustainable labour market. This is for the benefit of the individual employee, the workplace and society at large.”[5]

The last agreement from 2019 (Aftale om en ny og forbedret arbejdsmiljøindsats og ordnede forhold på arbejdsmarkedet (Agreement on new and improved occupational safety and health initiatives and orderly labour-market conditions) expired by the end of 2022. As a consequence the Danish Working Environment Authority would have lost 40% of its grant - a drastic deterioration of the working environment effort and the efforts against social dumping. Therefore, the parties agreed on a new political agreement assuring the Working Environment Authority the necessary economic level to be able to maintain the high level of supervision of the Danish working environment.

Main characteristics and objectives of the OSH-strategy (action plan) 

The Political Agreement of 2023 is largely built on the areas laid down in the 2019 Working Environment Agreement, which was based on the thorough work of the Expert Committee on the Investigation of Working Environment Efforts.

Specifically, this means that the strengthened supervisory efforts and the high supervisory pressure are maintained and that the effective tools in the working environment are maintained and further developed. 

The Danish Working Environment Authority’s supervision will continue to target the companies with the greatest risk of having health and safety problems. Therefore, the Danish Working Environment Authority must continuously work to develop and improve the risk models used to select companies for inspection.

Details of action plan 

With the new political agreement, the Danish Working Environment Authority will continue to focus on ensuring that initiatives are based on knowledge and facts. The Danish Working Environment Authority will therefore also focus on systematically collecting knowledge about supervisory efforts and evaluating new initiatives. This also applies as a follow-up to this agreement, where the Danish Working Environment Authority will, among other things, conduct an evaluation of the asbestos authorisation scheme two years after the scheme has entered into force[6],[7]. In addition, the Danish Working Environment Authority will conduct an impact analysis of inspections that can help shed light on the effect of the Danish Working Environment Authority’s inspections on the working environment in companies. 

The parties to the agreement also agree on the following specific initiatives:

  1. Efforts to strengthen the psychosocial working environment

Problems in the psychosocial working environment and work-related stress are major problems in the Danish labour market. With the 2019 Working Environment Agreement, history was made when Denmark got an executive order on the psychosocial working environment. Companies’ efforts to prevent problems in the psychosocial working environment must be strengthened. Therefore, the Danish Working Environment Authority must implement sector-specific communication initiatives in cooperation with the trade safety committees. In addition, the Danish Working Environment Authority must communicate about the work being done to improve psychosocial working environments targeted towards specific groups. The Danish Working Environment Authority will also continue to prioritise the competence development of the inspectors in terms of their ability to work with psychosocial working environment issues. In addition, the Danish Working Environment Authority must work on optimising the selection of companies so that it inspects the companies who are at the greatest risk of having challenges with the psychosocial working environment and can help them make improvements.

  1. Preventing employees from being physically worn out

The prevention of musculoskeletal disorders can have positive impacts for both individual employees and the ambition to retain employees in the workforce. The Danish Working Environment Authority will gather knowledge about effective measures for the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders and measures that prevent employees from being worn out.

  1. Simplification of the Danish Working Environment Authority’s type of reaction and tools

It must become easier for companies to understand the consequences of violating working environment regulations and what they as companies can do after an inspection. At the same time, the Danish Working Environment Authority must focus its inspection work on the companies that violate the rules. Therefore, the Danish Working Environment Authority’s types of reactions and tools must be simplified. The types of reactions that can be taken by the Danish Working Environment Authority is reduced from 11 to seven. 

The simplification of the types of reactions will not result in a lower level of protection, and companies will still be obliged to rectify the state of affairs. Finally, the scheme with binding notification and certain reporting requirements, etc. related to chemicals will be abolished as this has little or no impact on the working environment. In addition, the Danish Working Environment Authority will prepare a long-term plan for simplifying the rules governing working environments[8]. The simplification plan will help ensure up-to-date and clear working environment rules that are easier for businesses to access and understand while maintaining the same level of protection.

  1. Simplification and targeted contact with companies for inspections

Currently, in a number of cases, companies are notified 1-12 months before an inspection. It is unclear to companies what they have to do when they have been notified that the Danish Working Environment Authority will be inspecting within 1-12 months. Therefore, there will no longer be notifications of inspections. The Danish Working Environment Authority will notify of inspections where, based on industry knowledge, it is evaluated that it will have the most impact on working environments. Moving forward, the Danish Working Environment Authority will carry out more inspections than it currently does.

  1. Systematic knowledge gathering and analysis of the Danish Working Environment Authority’s tools and initiatives

The Danish Working Environment Authority’s efforts must be based on knowledge of effective tools so that inspection efforts contribute in the best possible way to a good working environment. Therefore, data from the national surveys of employees’ working environment and companies’ working environment efforts must be used systematically. In addition, ongoing knowledge gathering, and analysis efforts must be strengthened. The analyses should, for example, focus on whether the Danish Working Environment Authority’s instruments work as intended, which instruments work best, or how a tool or initiative works in relation to different target groups. The work must be based on a mapping of existing knowledge about the Danish Working Environment Authority’s tools.

  1. A healthy and safe working environment as part of the green transition

The working environment must be secured in the green transition. Therefore, the areas where technology development and the green transition may involve new risks to the working environment must be mapped. Based on the mapping, it must be assessed whether the supervisory competencies of the Danish Working Environment Authority should be strengthened and whether efforts to support companies’ occupational health and safety work in relation to the new risks should be increased.

  1. Proactive communication towards companies

The Danish Working Environment Authority’s inspections are generally targeted at companies with the highest risk of having problems with the working environment. A large group of Danish companies are therefore only rarely in contact with the Danish Working Environment Authority. To support companies’ daily occupational health and safety work, regardless of whether they receive inspections or not, the Danish Working Environment Authority must implement a behavior-based communication programme. The communication the companies receive must be targeted to the specific situation the individual company is in. For example, when the company has reached a size where there are new requirements for establishing a health and safety organisation or when a company has reported an accident and must prevent similar accidents.

  1. Research in work environments involving the use of chemicals

Knowledge about hazardous chemicals at the workplace can reduce the risk of being exposed to harmful chemical agents. NFA's research programme A stronger focus on research in working environment where chemicals are usedhas contributed valuable knowledge about hazardous chemicals in the workplace to authorities, working environment professionals and workplaces that work with hazardous chemicals on a daily basis. The programme must therefore be continued in the period 2023-2026 to maintain a solid research effort about chemicals.

  1. Trial with extended opening hours in the call center

The Danish Working Environment Authority will conduct a trial with extended opening hours in the Call Centre. The parties to the agreement agree that the occupational health and safety organisation (OHS) has a central role in occupational health and safety work in the workplace. In 2022, the temporary OHS committee with members from the social partners, experts and the Danish Ministry of Employment made recommendations for an improved OHS system. The parties to the agreement note that in continuation of the recommendations, a new executive order will be issued that brings together the relevant rules for the area and, among other things, clarifies the roles and tasks of the OHS, including the role of the occupational health and safety representative, in order to promote good cooperation on occupational health and safety issues at companies. The Danish Working Environment Authority is to support the implementation of the rules and the other recommendations from the temporary OHS committee.

Strong action against social dumping:

  1. Blacklisting companies from public tenders

Companies found guilty of using illegal labour are blacklisted from participating in public tenders. It is proposed that public contracting authorities will automatically know via the service certificate whether a company has been sanctioned for employing illegal workers under particularly aggravating circumstances. This will make it more transparent for the contracting authorities to see if there are issues that may justify excluding companies from a tender process.

  1. Proposal on the publication of inspections and decisions on foreign companies

There must be transparency about the working environments in companies. Therefore, the Danish Working Environment Authority must expand the upcoming viewing system that publishes data on the inspections and decisions Danish companies have received from the Danish Working Environment Authority. The purpose of the viewing scheme is to create greater transparency about companies’ working environment conditions and to support efforts to improve working environments. The viewing scheme must also contain data on inspections and decisions related to foreign companies.

Strengthened efforts to ensure good working environments:

  1. Strengthened cross-cutting efforts against social dumping and labour crimes

There are examples of companies that repeatedly violate working environment legislation, cheat on their VAT and taxes and use illegal labour. Therefore, the joint public authority efforts must be strengthened with a crosscutting response team to ensure that efforts by public authorities focus more on the serious and complicated cases. The crosscutting response team will strengthen cooperation on identifying new control and supervision subjects across the country and it will systematically coordinate and follow up on joint control actions and use knowledge about the developments in labour crime, social dumping and the use of illegal labour. 

  1. Health-oriented effort against occupational health

Occupational accidents have major human, financial and societal consequences. The parties to the agreement have therefore agreed to launch a holistic effort against occupational accidents to reduce the risk of occupational accidents occurring, including fatal accidents. The parties to the agreement note that the Danish Working Environment Council[9] has issued recommendations for reducing fatal accidents. The parties to the agreement have agreed to allocate DKK 31.2 million for a holistic effort against occupational accidents in the 2023-2026 period, including following up on the recommendations of the Danish Working Environment Council.

  1. Strengthened efforts regarding hazardous chemicals

Around 3,000 people report a chemical-related occupational illness each year, of which around 450 are cancer cases. The parties to the agreement have therefore agreed to launch a special effort for working environments where chemicals are used. The efforts will include gaining more knowledge and increasing supervision of the flow of information between manufacturers and companies about chemicals in the workplace, strengthening work on revising the Danish limit values and strengthening Danish influence on the chemicals area in the EU.

  1. Fewer people are to be exposed to asbestos

There are strict regulations on the handling of asbestos and its use has been banned since the 1980s. However, there are still examples of companies not following asbestos regulations. Therefore, an increased supervisory effort, a strengthened communication effort and an authorisation scheme for asbestos work are being implemented[10].

  1. Strengthened efforts against work-related stress and focus on the role of managers in the psychosocial working environment

Work-related stress remains a problem, and many people experience an imbalance between high demands and low influence at their workplaces. In some sectors, for example, violence and threats are a big problem. The parties to the agreement therefore agree that the Danish Working Environment Authority must initiate a multi-pronged effort aimed at preventing work-related stress. There is to be developed a knowledge base about psychosocial working environments and work-related stress. In addition, online theme meetings targeted at selected sectors will be conducted and the Danish Working Environment Authority’s Call Centre will be expanded so that more people can get help and guidance on preventing work-related stress. 

The parties to the agreement have also agreed to establish a new hotline at the Danish Working Environment Authority where managers can get help and guidance on the psychosocial working environment.

In addition, the Danish Working Environment Authority must carry out communication activities and hold online theme meetings for managers. On top of this, the drivers and barriers to the use of existing offers of management training in psychosocial working environment issues will be investigated. 

The parties to the agreement agree that the Danish Working Environment Authority and the social supervisory authorities must strengthen cooperation on initiatives that contribute to a more coherent effort to support the prevention of violence in shelters and housing units for the psychologically vulnerable.

  1. Strengthened basic grant for working environment research

Working environment research is important to ensure the necessary knowledge about occupational health and safety problems and potential effective health and safety measures. The National Research Centre for the Working Environment[11] plays a central role here. Therefore, the parties to the agreement agree that the National Research Centre for the Working Environment must be strengthened in order to support a sustained high quality in working environment research and its ability to disseminate valuable knowledge about the working environment to companies and society at large. The parties to the agreement agree to allocate DKK 20.8 million for a strengthened basic grant for working environment research in the 2023-2026 period.

Actors and stakeholders 

The agreement is largely a continuation of the agreement from 2019, which is based on recommendations submitted in September 2018 from an Expert Committee assigned to identify appropriate occupational safety and health initiatives. 

The Danish Government (the Social Democrats, Liberal Party and the Moderates) together with the Green Left, Denmark Democrats, Liberal Alliance, the Conservative People’s Party, the Red-Green Alliance, the Danish Social Liberal Party, Danish People’s Party, The Alternative and the New Right have therefore agreed to future-proof the working environment efforts to ensure a strong effort against social dumping, labour crime and illegal labour - and to strengthen the efforts in certain areas.

The parties agree that the social partners should take more responsibility for safety and health initiatives in Denmark. This will make the goals relevant and it will promote a common focus and common efforts in occupational safety and health work.

Resources and time frame 

Time frame: 

The Danish Political Agreement covers the period from 2023 to 2026. The parties agreed to discuss the working environment efforts from 2027 onwards during 2026.

The agreement is a negotiated settlement for the 2023-2026 period. A majority in the Danish Parliament will be able to add additional funds to the Danish Working Environment Authority without the support of the settlement group. This applies both to funds allocated to the working environment efforts and funds to ensure orderly conditions.

Some of the initiatives will require legislative changes. There is expected to be presented proposed legislation in the 2023/24 Danish parliamentary year. The parties to the agreement commit themselves to voting in favour of the coming proposed legislation and any potential individual acts.

Resources: 

In order to fulfil the agreement, the parties have agreed to provide the Danish Working Environment Authority, the National Research Centre for the Working Environment, the Danish Tax Agency[12] and the Danish Business Authority[13] with a total of almost DKK 1.3 billion in the 2023-2026 period.

The prioritisation of approximately DKK 1.3 billion over the 2023-2026 period is financed via the allocated reserves for a new working environment agreement of DKK 317.8 million per year for 2023-2026 in the proposed 2023 budget. The allocated reserves include contributing funding from the working environment pool (DKK 106.9 million) and special pool for the working environment (DKK 100.8 million) in 2023 as well as an annual reprioritisation in 2023-2026 from the Danish Working Environment Research Fund to the National Centre for the Working Environment’s research into working environments involving the use of chemical (DKK 10.7 million) and a raising of the basic grant for the National Centre for the Working Environment (DKK 5.2 million).

Evaluation 

The parties to the agreement will receive an annual update on the status of the implementation of the agreement. The Employment Committee and the Working Environment Council will also be informed about the implementation of the agreement once a year.

The Working Environment Council will be informed about the progress.

The OSH Strategy was in 2022 systematically evaluated by a general monitoring. The evaluation of the OSH Strategy 2020 (political agreement “A strategy for work environment efforts by 2020”) was carried out in cooperation with the Work Environment Council:

 

Relationship to EU Strategic Framework on health and safety at work 2021-2027

Due to the broad and general approach of the Danish Political Agreement 2023, there are relations to most aspect of the EU-OSH Strategic Framework.

There is a particularly strong relation to research, green transition, chemical safety, work related accidents and social dumping (initiative 10, 11 and 12). The Working Environment Authority has a special focus on social dumping with an ongoing focus on occupations with high health and safety risks.

Some examples: 

Strong relation to EU OSH Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work.

Due to the broad and general approach of the Danish Political Agreement 2023, there are relations to most aspect of the EU-OSH Strategic Framework.

There is a particularly strong relation to research, green transition, chemical safety, work related accidents and social dumping.

The weakest direct relation seems to be the part of the strategic framework related to circulatory disease, and promotion of gender aspects

Key objective 1 of the EU Strategic Framework (Anticipating and managing change) is covered by initiative 1 and 16 (psychosocial risks and mental health problems/ work-related stress). 

Initiative 2 (musculoskeletal diseases),

Denmark believes that there is a need for a clearer picture of the consequences of the green agenda for the labour market and whether there is therefore a need to adapt working environment efforts accordingly. Initiative 6 deals with a healthy and safe working environment as part of the green transition.

Key objective 2 the EU Strategic Framework (Improving prevention of work-related diseases and accidents) is covered by initiative 8, 14, and 15 of the agreement which are related to chemical safety and 13 which is aimed at reducing the risk of occupational accidents including fatal accidents. 

  • Denmark promotes the European Code of Conduct against Cancer among Workers through general information efforts on health knowledge and cancer.
  • Denmark has carried out special efforts related to the agricultural sector, with a special focus on ergonomics, accidents and chemistry.
  • Denmark has conducted a special effort towards hospitals with a particular focus on stressful factors in the psychological working environment.

Key objective 3 of the EU Strategic Framework (Increasing preparedness – responding rapidly to threats) is not mentioned in the Political Agreement, but in Denmark, emergency preparedness work is carried out via NOST (National Operational Staff) which brings together relevant authorities in the event of a crisis. Here, the working environment is also included to the extent that it is relevant to the specific crisis[15]. Therefore, there is no need for an actual contingency plan for companies’ working environment in the event of future crises.

There is already a good co-operation across public authorities (health and labour inspection authorities during) in the form of sector partnerships. 

The Danish Working Environment Authority has recently published a new online risk assessment tool, APV[16]. The tool gives companies the chance to choose from 56 different sectoral activities, and places high importance on employee involvement via different possibilities, such as surveys, meetings or printouts.


 


[1] Arbejdstilsynet, Om strategi for arbejdsmiljøindsatsen frem til 2020, 26. March 2015. Available at: https://at.dk/om-os/opgaver-organisation-og-strategi/om-strategi-for-arbejdsmiljoeindsatsen-frem-til-2020/

[2] Arbejdstilsynet, A strategy for working environment efforts up to 2020, Agreement between the Danish government (Denmark's Liberal Party and the Conservative People's Party), the Social Democratic Party, the Danish People's Party and the Social Liberal Party, 22 March 2010. Available at: https://at.dk/om-os/opgaver-organisation-og-strategi/om-strategi-for-arbejdsmiljoeindsatsen-frem-til-2020/

[3] Arbejdstilsynet,  Aftale om fremtidssikret arbejdsmiljøindsats og indsats mod social dumping 2023, 2023. Available at: https://at.dk/om-os/opgaver-organisation-og-strategi/aftale-2023/

[4] Beskæftigelsesministeriet, Aftale om en ny og forbedret arbejdsmiljøindsats og ordnede forhold på arbejdsmarkedet, 2019. Available at: https://bm.dk/media/10174/aftale-arbejdsmiljoe.pdf

[5] Arbejdstilsynet, Agreement on a future-proofed working environment and efforts against social dumping. 3 March 2023. Available at: https://at.dk/en/about-us/about-the-wea/agreement-2023/

[6] Workplace Denmark, Protect yourselves against asbestos, website last update 2023. https://workplacedenmark.dk/health-and-safety/building-and-construction/protect-yourselves-against-asbestos/ (Danish website: https://workplacedenmark.dk/da/health-and-safety/building-and-construction/protect-yourselves-against-asbestos/)

[7] Business Denmark (VIRK), Report asbestos work, https://businessindenmark.virk.dk/authorities/stat/AT/selfservice/Notify_the_Working_Environment_Authority_of_asbestos_work/

[8] Arbejdstilsynet, Jura og Forenkling (Law and simplification), website 2023. Available at: https://at.dk/om-os/opgaver-organisation-og-strategi/organisation/arbejdsmiljoefagligt-center/jura-og-forenkling/

[9] Danish Working Environment Council (Arbejdsmiljørådet). Avaailable at: https://amr.dk/

[10] Workplace Denmark, Protect yourselves against asbestos, website last update 2023. https://workplacedenmark.dk/health-and-safety/building-and-construction/protect-yourselves-against-asbestos/ (Danish website: https://workplacedenmark.dk/da/health-and-safety/building-and-construction/protect-yourselves-against-asbestos/)

[11] National Research Centre for the Working Environment (NFA). Available at: https://nfa.dk/en/Om-NFA

[12] Danish Tax Authority. Available at: https://sktst.dk/english

[13] Danish Business Authority. Available at: https://danishbusinessauthority.dk/

[14] Arbejdstilsynets, 3. evaluering af målopfyldelsen i 2020-strategien, 2019. Available at: https://at.dk/media/5493/3-evaluering-maalopfyldelsen-2020-strategien.pdf

[15] Danish Emergency Management Agency, Crisis Management in Denmark, 2021. Available at: https://www.brs.dk/globalassets/brs---beredskabsstyrelsen/dokumenter/krisestyring-og-beredskabsplanlagning/2021/-crisis-management-in-denmark-.pdf

[16] Arbejdstilsynets, Kom godt i gang med jeres arbejdspladsvurdering (APV), 2019. Available at: https://apv.at.dk/

 

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