The European Labour Authority awarded the Netherlands Labour Authority for their exemplary practice ‘Zelfinspectie.nl: checklists for employers’ allowing the Dutch employers to have the possibility to look at their companies as an inspector does and making legislation accessible to them.
Employers can answer questionnaires which cover five different areas:
- decent work,
- health & safety at work,
- hazardous substances,
- psychological workload,
- accident Investigation.
Based on the responses, the employers receive an action checklist, highlighting areas for improvement to meet national legal requirements. Currently, the checklists are promoted in various sectors but particularly in the construction sector where the risks regarding decent work, health & safety and hazardous substances are higher.
In 2011, the Netherlands Labour Authority (NLA) discovered that numerous employers were not compliant with the law due to the lack of information. Therefore, between 2011 and 2012 the NLA launched checklists for employers website, where they can do a self-inspection to see if they are compliant with the national law. The aim was to create a user-friendly and accessible site. It focused especially on small and medium-sized companies who were willing to, but not able to abide by the law. The website received a new revamped version in 2020 to make it even more concise and user-friendly.
This innovative practice is a good example on how digital approach, user-friendliness and accessibility can empower employers for self-assessment in compliance with national law. This contributes to safer, healthier and fairer work environment for the workers.
More: