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.
The Hungarian Government has designed the minister for employment policy, and the District Offices of the Capital and County-level Government Offices to perform administrative duties as authorities dealing with occupational safety and health and labour affairs. The district offices of capital/county government offices are territorial state administrative organs that carry out OSH inspections, while Department of Occupational Safety and Health within the Ministry for National Economy performs, inter alia, professional guidance of OSH inspection authorities and actively contributes to preparation and elaboration of regulations regarding OSH.
More information on the various OSH systems can be found in the relevant OSHwiki articles on national OSH systems.
Basic information on the national OSH strategy
The National Occupational Safety and Health Policy sets out Hungary’s occupational safety and health priorities for the period of 2024-2027. This occurs in line with the EU’s current 2021 -2027 strategy for health and safety at work, which is to be followed by all Member States.
The current strategy is: A MUNKAVÉDELEM NEMZETI POLITIKÁJA 2024-2027[1]; English version: National Occupational Safety and Health Policy 2024-2027
Former strategies:
A MUNKAVÉDELEM NEMZETI POLITIKÁJA 2016-2022[2]; English version: National Occupational Safety and Health Policy 2016-2022[3]
OGY határozat a munkavédelem országos programjáról[4]
Background and the perceived problem
The priorities of the National Occupational Safety and Health Policy are defined in accordance with the explicit objective of developing practices to protect workers by preserving their ability to work, maintaining safety and health standards and increasing the number of healthy years in a worker’s lifetime. Providing appropriate working conditions is indispensable in order to maintain the maximum labour.
The identification and effective management of risks arising from traditional (classic) hazards, as well as new and emerging risks, is also an important factor to be taken into account. The nature of occupational diseases is changing constantly. Scientific and technical development such as robotisation, digitalisation, but also new forms of employment, social changes and epidemics related to globalisation may exacerbate existing risks and lead to the emergence of new ones.
Analysis of the situation: In the last three decades the number of fatal accidents at work has decreased to nearly a third. However, the rate of accidents at work and the rate of fatal accidents at work remained unchanged over the last period 2017-2019, with the exemption in 2020 as a result of partial shutdowns due to the pandemic situation.
Objectives: The objective is to reduce risks that represent a threat to safety and health of employees as absence from work and the costs of medical treatment and rehabilitation are much greater than any investment in development of occupational safety and health. Prevention is the only option for avoiding accidents at work and occupational diseases.
A further objective is to ensure that the improvement of working conditions will contribute to a greater productivity, competitiveness and carrying capacity of society, as well as to the preservation of a high-quality workforce.
Main characteristics and objectives of the OSH-strategy
In accordance with the European Union's 2021-2027 occupational safety and health strategic framework, the new national strategic objectives focus on three key objectives over the coming years:
- Anticipating and managing the changes brought by the green and digital transitions and the demographic transition in the new world of work;
- improving the prevention of accidents and diseases at work;
- improving preparedness for possible future health emergencies (e.g. epidemics).
In order to achieve these objectives, action at national, sectoral and company level is needed in addition to EU action.
Details of the strategy (action plan/measures)
Better prevention of work-related illnesses and accidents, bringing a zero vision closer to achieving the green and digital transitions
Aim: to integrate the "Vision Zero” into the prevention culture by raising occupational safety awareness, raising workplace safety and health through the development of technologies, production equipment and occupational safety, raising the ability of occupational safety representatives, and the state's occupational safety function.
Encouraging/supporting employers in purchasing more advanced technologies, work equipment, safety equipment and protective equipment enabling a higher level of occupational safety;
Improving the effectiveness of the health and safety authority and supporting the achievement of the above objectives;
Supporting the training of occupational safety representatives; Information, OSH awareness-raising and strengthening the enforcement of existing rules and guidelines, in particular in micro-enterprises
Strengthening digitalisation, electronic support for health and safety notifications.
Responsible: Minister for Employment Policy
Addressing the demographic change also to better protect the groups of workers most affected by pandemics and to reduce occupational risks related to cancer, cardiovascular disease
Aim: to support the targeted screening of workers, taking into account the workload as well as and their individual health and age specificities.
Responsible: Minister Employment Policy; Co-operating partner: Minister for Health
Promoting the detection, prevention or reduction of psychosocial risks, including teleworking
Aim: to assess, manage and prevent workplace stress in order to preserve the mental health of workers.
Responsible: Minister Employment Policy, Minister for Health
Helping to identify, prevent or mitigate ergonomic risks
Aim: to prevent musculoskeletal disorders by increasing knowledge.
Publishing existing research findings and methods on effective prevention of musculoskeletal disorders in electronic form accessible to everyone.
Encouraging the research to assess the occupational cause of musculoskeletal disorders as well as the development of effective prevention methods based on ergonomic principles.
Responsible: Minister for Health
Enhancing protection against substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic to reproduction
Aim: to transpose the EU OSH Directives on carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances, to develop a prevention-conscious approach by raising awareness of risks and good prevention practices, and to promote research results aimed at assessing the occupational origin of occupational cancers.
Reduce the risks to health arising from exposure to asbestos at work, based on the revision and amendment of the EU Work Safety Directive on Asbestos.
Responsible: Minister for Employment Policy; Co-operating partner: Minister for Health
Preparing and providing timely and professional information, in particular to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, to promote safe and healthy employment.
Aim: to strengthen the role of the state as a service provider, by compiling guidelines to improve working conditions and producing awareness-rising publications.
Special attention should be paid to gender differences and information on workers with special needs or vulnerable groups (young, pregnant and recently born women, ageing workers, cancer patients/survivors).
Responsible: Minister responsible for employment policy
Raising awareness of workplace safety in agriculture and better monitoring of seasonal workers’ working conditions
Aim: to provide employers and workers in agricultural useful and timely information.
Farmers need to be trained through agricultural extension services to improve their skills and awareness concerning agricultural health and safety, including the safe use of chemicals, particularly pesticides.
Responsible: Minister responsible for agricultural policy, Minister for Employment Policy; Co-operating partner: Hungarian Chamber for Agriculture
Support the introduction of free online tools to support OSH tasks.
Aim: to promote the development of working conditions for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, to improve their competitiveness, to continuously develop and expand OiRA (Online Interactive Risk Assessment) tools.
Responsible: Minister for Employment Policy
Explaining and encouraging the exchange of good practices.
Aim: to disseminate good practices at conferences, briefings, press releases or online, can help smaller, less experienced or start-up businesses to improve their own working conditions.
Responsible: Minister for Employment Policy
Better assessment and management of risks in the health sector
Aim: to develop a guide for the health sector focusing, inter alia, on the protection of workers’ exposure to ‘dangerous medicines’ (e.g. some cancer therapy, antiviral, hormone therapy, and bioengineered agents).
Responsible: Minister for Health
Strengthening the professional and operational conditions of the health and safety authority
Aim: to strengthen the efficient performance of public tasks is necessary to enable the Authority to contribute effectively to the development of legal frameworks adapted to developments in the world of work and to monitor the tasks arising from new and emerging risks (e.g. risks arising from robotisation, digitalisation, new forms of employment and the management of social changes and epidemics related to globalisation)
Responsible: Minister for Employment Policy; Co-operating partner: Minister for Public Administration Organisation
Creation of databases for OSH and Occupational Health Service Providers
Aim: to improve the effectiveness of controls, creation and publication of the database will make it easier to choose the service provider and clean the market
Responsible: Minister for Employment Policy, Minister for Health
Simplifying and streamlining the regulation of occupational safety
Aim: continuous examination of the system of rules, the review and evaluation of proposals from the professional and social partners while implementing the requirements of work that do not endanger health and are safe.
Responsible: Minister involved in his/her duties
Actors and stakeholders
Main actor is the Labour Committee, it consists of the interest representation organs of employees and employers, as well as the representatives of the Government. Their work can be supported by temporary and permanent experts.
The Fundamental Law, Act XCIII of 1993 on occupational safety and Act LXXV of 2000 require employees and employers to establish a national policy on the protection of working ability, safety and the working environment. Employer representatives and employee representatives have to be members of the Hungarian Economic and Social Council (a consultative, proposal-making and advisory body independent from Parliament and the Government, with members representing the Hungarian civil society). Employer representatives are interest groups (e.g. National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers, Hungarian Association of Craftmen’s Corporations, Agrarian Employers’ Federation, Confederation of Hungarian Employers and Industrialists), employee representatives are trade union federations (e.g. Democratic Confederation of Free Trade Unions, National Federation of Workers’ Councils, Confederation of Unions of Professionals, The Forum for the Cooperation of Trade Unions). The side of the Government consists of representatives of supervisory ministries of certain sectors, and national level authorities (e.g. labour inspectorate, mining authority, national health insurance fund).
Resources and time frame
The Ministry for National Economy is responsible for the performance of public tasks related to OSH, therefore resources are provided by the Government.
Main objective: to prevent accidents at work, occupational diseases and to protect workers' ability to work
- Preparation of draft legislation and standards on occupational safety and health
- Professional management of the occupational safety and health authority ("inspectorates")
- Preparation of methodological guides, technical recommendations and information material for employers, workers, OSH representatives and OSH services
- Ordering national target inspections on occupational safety and health
- Preparing inspection guidelines and objectives for the OSH field
- Prepares the draft report on the situation of OSH in the national economy.
- Operation the EU-OSHA National Focal Point
- Operation of an OSH information system (advice);
- National Commission for Occupational Safety and Health Head of Department for the Government side
- Preparation and coordination of the implementation of the National Policy on Occupational Safety and Health
- Participation in the work of national expert groups, e.g.: Welding Labour Protection Working Group; WG Live (Electric) Working; Gas Cylinder Working Group
- EU and international expert groups, e.g. ILO, SLIC: CHEMEX (chemicals), MACHEX (machinery); EU Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work (ACSH), Personal Protective Equipment Expert Group
Time frame of the strategy is 2024 to 2027.
Evaluation
The national OSH strategy includes a short chapter related to the evaluation of the former strategy. Accordingly, significant progress has been made in the field of occupational health and safety in the past three decades: the number of fatal workplace accidents in Hungary has decreased by almost a third. However, the work accident rate and the fatal work accident rate did not change in the last period between 2017-2019.
Indicators for the years 2016-2022
Number of accidents 2016: 23 027, 2017: 23 387, 2018: 23 738, 2019: 24 055, 2020: 20 366, 2021: 21 591, 2022: 21 273
Number of fatal accidents 2016: 80, 2017: 79, 2018: 79. 2019: 83, 2020: 64, 2021: 84, 2022: 68
Number of absence due to occupational diseases 2016: 870 948, 2017: 927 582, 2018: 896 819, 2019: 917 143, 2020: 865 060, 2021: 717 969, 2022: 696 825
Relationship to EU Strategic Framework on health and safety at work 2021-2027
The EU strategic framework on health and safety at work 2021-2027 has been fully integrated into to the Hungarian strategy. The three strategic goals of the Hungarian OSH strategy reflect the three key objectives. The measures are assigned to the strategic goals/key objectives.
Key objective 1 of the EU Framework (Anticipating and managing change) is covered by measures 1, 2, 3, 4
Key objective 2 of the EU Framework (Improving prevention of work-related diseases and accidents) is covered by measures 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.
Key objective 3 of the EU Framework (Increasing preparedness – responding rapidly to threats) is covered by measure 2, 11.
Vision Zero is explicit mentioned in measure 1.
OiRA is explicit mention in measure 8.
References
