Occupational healthcare services
As an employee, you are always entitled to occupational healthcare services. The type of your employment (e.g. full-time, part-time or zero-hour contract) or duration of your employment do not affect this right.
Employers must arrange occupational healthcare to help you look after your health and ability to work. Occupational healthcare also covers mental wellbeing.
According to the law, the employer, employees and healthcare provider must collaborate to make the workplace healthy for everyone. It prevents work-related injuries and accidents.
All employees have the right to seek advice on matters related to health and safety at work. You must also be informed that you have the right to receive advice from occupational healthcare services on how to stay healthy.
Employees must be treated equally in matters related to occupational safety and healthcare. The employer must ensure that short-term employees – such as fixed-term employees – are also entitled to occupational healthcare services.
Legislation obligates all employers to provide their employees with preventive occupational healthcare services. In addition, many employers voluntarily provide at least some medical care services. Your employer must inform you of the services included in the occupational healthcare services provided at your workplace.
What do occupational healthcare services do?
- They inform the employee of the risks related to their health and how to prevent them.
- They find out which aspects of the work are straining for the employees, how work has been organised, and which aspects pose a risk of illness, accidents at work or violence. This workplace survey must be kept available to the employees. Employers are obligated to arrange work in a manner that minimises health risks at work.
- They draw up a plan with proposals for improving wellbeing at work and assess whether health examinations are necessary.
- They carry out health examinations based on health risks associated with the work or to support the employees’ ability to work.
- They participate in planning good working methods, good workspaces and other methods to improve the working ability of employees.
- If necessary, they examine whether the work may cause an occupational disease, such as asthma, allergies or hearing loss.
- They support maintaining working ability.
- They support employees who return to work from extended sick leave.
What can you ask for from occupational healthcare services?
- Guidance on how to prevent health risks caused by work and how to cope at work.
- Health examinations to maintain working ability.
- Health examinations if you work in tasks that include a special health risk.
- Help in crisis situations, such as crisis support, if you are a victim of violence or a party to an occupational accident.
- An account of whether some aspect of your work is straining, i.e., making your work harder than normal.
Employees’ health information must be handled with care
Occupational healthcare services must always respect your privacy, and they must not provide your health information to your employer.
Occupational healthcare can include information on whether you are suited to your duties or whether there are restrictions related to your health on a medical certificate submitted to your employer. The medical certificate from a health examination can only be submitted to your employer, if your work is associated with special health risks.
Your employer can obtain information about your health from a medical certificate you provide in connection with sick leave, for example. Health information is personal data, and your employer is not allowed to disclose it to anyone.
Your employer must store all information related to your health separately from all other information held by the employer. Your health information can only be processed at the workplace by those who are responsible for paying your wages for your sick leave, for example.