(16 April, 2025) The European Works Council (EWC) for long-term care company Clariane met with management on 10 April to open discussions on the update and improvement of the 2021 Health and Safety protocol.
The purpose of this is to negotiate an agreement on Health and Safety as an extension to the November 2021 protocol on the prevention of accidents in the workplace. Since 2021, nine meetings of a Health and Safety Commission have taken place to evaluate and monitor the implementation of the measures in the protocol on the following six themes:
- A culture of health and safety at work: Disseminate a culture of health and safety at work throughout the Group, supported by teams of occupational risk prevention experts working in close proximity to sites.
- Working conditions: Promoting working conditions that are conducive to employee health and deploying sustainable solutions throughout the Group to improve working conditions as close to the ground as possible.
- Making everyone responsible: Empowering employees to take charge of their own health within the company
- Assessing occupational risks, monitoring indicators and steering action plan: Assessing occupational risks on a regular basis, monitoring our indicators and steering action plans to develop our practices and define areas for improvement
- Measures for the internal redeployment of unfit employees: Promote job retention by creating appropriate mechanisms to encourage internal redeployment
- Taking safety risks into account in construction and renovation projects: Incorporate occupational risk assessments into all construction and renovation projects to ensure that the approach is sustainable.
After initial discussions, the members of the EWC felt that the following topics were either lacking in detail, or required addition to the document and would be presented to the management:
- Training: This should be done by 'in house' trainers - they have a better feel and understanding of the work environment. It would save the company money. More training opportunities and refresher courses are needed.
- Occupational Safety and Health: More detail is needed on issues including Psychosocial Risks and depression; the organisation of work and the structural workload; quality of life at work (wellbeing); absenteeism (and the effects on co-workers); third-party violence; occupancy rates; and staff ratios.
Other areas for improvements discussed were the protection of whistleblowers; programmes and initiatives to prepare workers for retirement; and the use and placement of security cameras.
The Clariane management concluded the meeting by affirming that Health and Safety must be a reality and not wishful thinking. It must be disseminated to all levels.
An updated draft document with the changes discussed will be presented by the Clariane management team at the next meeting, scheduled to take place on 23 April.
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