Occupational health collaboration

What does occupational health collaboration mean?

Occupational health collaboration means that the employer, supervisors, the representatives of the occupational health care service and employees team up to take care of the employees’ work ability together.

Together you can prevent occupational and other work-related illnesses and accidents, promote a healthy and safe work environment and a well-functioning work community while at the same time supporting the employees’ health and work ability. The best results will be achieved when you engage in active collaboration and know how the responsibilities are divided between the occupational health care service and the company.

In Finland, employers have the obligation to arrange occupational health care for all employees. Occupational health care must be preventive and promote work ability. Employers can also choose to complement it with medical care.

Occupational health care must be provided

• on an equal basis and free of charge to the employee 
• based on the company’s working conditions, occupational hazards and risks and changes in working conditions.

An agreement on occupational health services marks the start of collaboration between the workplace and occupational health care – the occupational health collaboration. Its objective is to promote working, working conditions and employees’ health and ability to work and function.

The collaboration benefits both the company and the employees

The company is an important link in occupational health collaboration. That is why you all, in addition to the employer, have an impact on what the collaboration is like, how you all benefit from it and where you want to take it.

Show interest, be active, give time

In order to the collaboration to be successful and bear fruit, the employer must be interested in occupational health care and what it does. Because what it does is much more than medical visits or invitations to annual meetings. Occupational health care services cannot plan their activities to suit your specific needs on their own. If the responsibility for planning the activities solely rests on the occupational health care service, the outcome will be a one-size-fits-all solution that meets the needs of the average customer. However, you might have other wishes. The occupational health care must also be interested in your needs and practices.

You must both be active and devote time to the collaboration, especially when looking into the company’s main work ability challenges and options to resolve them.

An action plan makes the collaboration goal-oriented

When starting up collaboration, make a good action plan together. It will avoid you spending time and money on isolated measures which usually do not lead to the desired outcome, no matter how high quality they are. Make an action plan that optimally supports your company’s work ability management. Specify in the plan how and when you will measure and monitor the results to be able to make readjustments together if required.