How to elect an occupational safety representative?

At the OSH elections the employees elect an occupational safety representative and two deputy representatives to represent them.

According to the Finnish law, an occupational safety representative (OSH representative) and two deputy occupational safety representatives must be chosen in every workplace where more than 10 people are working on a regular basis.

The occupational safety representative is chosen among the workers by the workers. The OSH representative represents the employees in occupational health and safety cooperation matters between the employer, and the relevant authorities.

The occupational safety representatives in the food industry workplaces must be elected every other year during November or December. The term of office is two years, unless a longer term of office of up to four years is agreed upon locally.

At the occupational health and safety elections (OSH elections), the employees elect an occupational safety representative and two deputy representatives to represent them.

When the date of the election has been agreed upon, the date and the place of the election must be announced with a notification placed on display at the workplace or by other means of communication made public to all the employees and salaried employees of the workplace no less than 14 days prior to the date of the election.

The existing OSH committee or equivalent cooperation body will form an election committee from the representatives drawn from the personnel that will assume responsibility for carrying out the election. The members of the election committee are responsible for carrying out the actual ballot and the vote count.

Those employees who, according to the list provided by the employer for the election, are in an employment relationship with the workplace, are entitled to nominate candidates and stand as a candidate.

The names of the candidates and their consent must be communicated to the election committee in writing by the agreed deadline.

When the election committee announces the date and the place of the election and the election procedure, it must also set the date by which the candidates must be nominated. At least 7 days must be allocated for the nomination of candidates.

Those employees of the workplace who are in an employment relationship on the election date, including part-time or fixed-term employees or employees who have been laid off or who are on family leave are entitled to vote in the election.

The election must be carried out as a majority election by secret ballot.

When the voting time has ended, the election committee shall open the receptacle, and calculate the voting result. In the event of a tie, the result of the election shall be decided by drawing lots.

The occupational safety representative represents the employees in occupational health and safety cooperation matters with the employer. It is the occupational safety representative’s duty to look, on their own initiative, into the work environment in the workplace, and into issues that affect the safety and health of the employees in the work community. The OSH representative must also look into work safety regulations. One of the important tasks of the OSH representative is to convey employee-level information about occupational safety and health issues to the employer, so that they can be handled through cooperation.