4th CONFERENCE-Zadar Borik '12.

CONCLUSIONS ON THE 4th INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE “OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH”

The Conference titled "Occupational Safety and Health" was held from September 19th - 22nd 2012, at the premises of the hotel Falkensteiner, in Borik-Zadar. The Conference was organized by the University of Applied Sciences in Karlovac, the Croatian Institute for Health Protection and Safety at Work, the Croatian Ergonomics Society and the Boise State University in the United States. It was under the auspice of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour and Pension Scheme, and the National Council for Work Safety.

The Conference was attended by about 200 participants from Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovakia, Portugal and Macedonia. Besides a large number of authors the Conference was attended by numerous experts (specialists in occupational medicine) from various institutions, economy, trade unions and students as well. The working part of the Conference has been organized in three parallel sections, a panel discussion and a workshop. At this Conference there were 9 interdisciplinary areas included which were presented through papers and presentations.

Through numerous papers and discussion the following conclusions occurred:

1. Documents, goals and the strategy of the development of Croatia should include guidelines in the function of organization, implementation of all international norms and regulations in the areas of occupational safety, health protection and all other areas in the company to help ensure quality, health and a safer life for all employees and citizens. (All this is impossible without us, science and professionals.)

2. For further development of a healthy society we need healthy and happy people who will not be a burden to society because of the risk of the future that has resulted due to non-implementation of laws and other measures.

3. With regard to further practical application of occupational safety and health protection further application of risk analysis in all segments of society and all key business processes is essential. In this respect it is necessary to identify the points in the processes where the risks are assessed by the application of some of the methods.

4. At the Conference it was also recognized that future development activities in the discussed areas should be increasingly directed towards knowledge management, creativity and innovation. In that way a strategic commitment for creating the conditions would be gradually accomplished that a large part of the funds that we are losing because of inadequate protection could be directed on science, education, health, culture and more.

5. Although a positive trend in these systems and areas of interest at the Conference is not questionable, it is not enough for the forthcoming changes to the EU market which we are preparing for, as well as for the entrance into the European Union.

6. Threats and risks must be identified and managed.

7. For all of these areas and problems which are pointed out, more sensitivity should be shown, as well as awareness and responsibility by the competent institutions of society. It should be understood that the investment in this is an investment for a better quality of life in the future.

8. A large number of young participants at the Conference are to guarantee the feasibility of the mentioned activities.

9. Considering the popularity of theme at the panel discussion "Discussion on Amendments to the Law on Occupational Safety," the participants agreed to send a special set of conclusions to all relevant addresses from the President of the State, and on.

Experiences from this Conference: more presentations of companies, as well as specialized literature in these areas.

10. This conference once again confirmed that by synthesizing knowledge from various fields there was made another step in the development and improvement of the system of safety and health of workers.

11. The conference participants discussed the a lot of open questions and challenges we face, and have concluded that through the prism of safety and health protection, legal and practical solutions there is the need of active work and systematic training in these areas, of all the factors of society.

12. The Conference participants reviews are that this Conference has justified its purpose and objective, it will give certain results, which we will be able to consider, analyse and evaluate in 2014 at the 5th Conference.

The Organizing Committee donated 500,00 kuna for the treatment of Stephanie Milda.

September 22nd 2012, Borik, Zadar, Croatia

PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE NEW LAW ON OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY

ZADAR, September 20th 2012

Conclusions found at the Conference

The draft proposal of the law on Occupational safety conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Pension Scheme initiated a public discussion on August 3rd 2012. It is unacceptable for many reasons, especially because:

• It does not respect the prohibition of the harmonization of national legal order with the EU acquis in the field of occupational safety which is used as an excuse for the abolition or reduction of the existing law in a Member State, if those rights are consistent with the acquis or better than it.

• the procedure does not include the assessment of the effects the current law on occupational safety and procedural regulations which are in force

• it does not respect the practice of the Croatian Constitutional Court about the quality of norms and requirements that must be met by a legal norm so that they are consistent with the rule of law and legal certainty, legitimate expectations as addressees of legal norms in Croatia

• it is not in accordance with international agreements binding the Republic of Croatia, for example, the conventions of the International Labour Organisation, which have more legal power than the laws of the Republic of Croatia, especially those on occupational safety, occupational health services, worker representatives, labour inspection, insurance against work injury and occupational diseases, sailors, etc.

The Conference participants, as expert members of the public who take part in the implementation of work safety in the Republic of Croatia, who systematically follow the effects of the application of regulations on work safety in Croatia, welcomed the decision of the Minister of Labour and Pension Scheme to withdraw the Draft Proposal of the Law on Occupational safety from the procedure which would result with its reference to the Croatian Government, followed by the Parliament.

However, the participants judged unacceptable that the working group for drafting the new law on work safety and / or the National Council for Occupational Safety were imposed an obligation that the starting point for the creation of a new legal draft or proposal is the Draft proposal of the Law on Occupational safety that the Ministry of Labour and Pension Scheme initiated to the public discussion on August 3rd 2012.

The conference participants welcome and support the unity of approach, opinions and collaboration activities of social partners, the professional associations of interest, and other interested expert public and members of the academic community during public hearings on the Draft of the Law on Safety at Work on August 3rd 2012. It can be seen that there is little legislative proposal in Croatia that has brought together a comparable degree of unison what is shown in the case or the example of the public debates on the Draft the Law on Safety at Work. Accordingly it is expected that the relevant Ministry, as the carrier of professional activities recognizes this fact and that it is completely respected.

The unity expressed concerns, in particular, the completely unacceptable idea or respective proposal of the encroachment into the structure and functioning of the Croatian Institute for Health and Safety at Work (HZZZSR), which is the youngest institution in the field of safety at work in the Republic of Croatia, a fact which did not prevent its experts to achieve enviable results for the benefit of workers, of worker representatives, employers, and other users of the services of HZZZSR. We oppose to all rules and procedures which stand in the way of these results and diminish the conditions for work and activities of HZZZSR. In contrary, we are expressing willingness to warn international institutions, which Croatia is a member of, of such undesirable effects.

We support the conclusions of a joint meeting of the association of experts for Safety at Work and safety engineers on September 13th 2012. We find unacceptable the attempt to discredit the achieved contributions given by the professionals specifically educated and specialized in the safety at work, prescribed by EU acquis and which are accordingly an obligation and responsibility of every employer in the Republic of Croatia.

We invite professional and political authorities in the Republic of Croatia to support the idea of the leading experts in the safety at work and occupational medicine in the Republic of Croatia that with quality regulations, and first of all with the quality of laws on Safety at Work, enable all subjects the right to get and apply intelligent, clear and precise legal rules that will confidently contribute to legal security and the rule of law in the Republic of Croatia;, to effectively protect the health and safety of workers and the competitiveness of entrepreneurs and employers; as well as to enable the funds collected on the basis of compulsory social insurance to be invested in prevention, rather than being spend for the recovery of damages that result from injuries at work, occupational diseases and other illnesses related to work.