Organisation of occupational health care
The Occupational Health Care Act obligates employers to organise preventive occupational health care for all employees who work in Finland. The Act also applies to foreign employers and private individuals acting as employers.
Preventive occupational health care includes a workplace survey carried out at the workplace, health checks, advice and guidance and maintenance of first aid preparedness. In addition to this, the employer can organise general practitioner-level medical care and other health care services for its employees. The organisation of medical care is voluntary.
Occupational health care services must be implemented in accordance with good occupational health care practice, which is also a condition for receiving reimbursement from Kela. Good occupational health care practice is always based on the needs of the workplace. Its content and implementation depend on the work, work arrangements, staff structure, workplace conditions and any changes in them.
The employer can acquire occupational health care services from the wellbeing services county, from a private or other occupational health care provider (e.g. a medical clinic) or organise occupational health care independently (own occupational health care) or together with another employer.
Occupational health care is implemented in the form of multi-professional cooperation. The main responsibility for the implementation lies with occupational health care professionals: occupational health doctor, occupational health nurse and occupational physiotherapist. The team also includes the necessary experts who have completed occupational health care studies, such as an occupational health psychologist, or experts in the field of occupational hygiene, social work, occupational vision or nutrition.
The professionals assess the need for occupational health experts.
Occupational health care agreement and action plan
The employer signs a written agreement on occupational health care with the chosen service provider. The agreement contains information about the general occupational health care arrangements and the content of the services and specifies whether the parties have agreed on the organisation of medical care in addition to statutory occupational health care. The agreement must be revised if the circumstances change materially.
The responsibility for organising occupational health care always lies with the employer, but the activities are planned in cooperation between the employer or its representative, staff and the provider of occupational health care services. In addition to this, the employer and the service provider jointly prepare a written occupational health care action plan for the organisation of occupational health care.