Student employment services
Inform the students and secondary school pupils who come to you to obtain referral forms of all problems concerning safety and health at work. Refer them to the websites available in the links section, and in particular draw their attention to the following websites:
Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs
Safety and Health at Work Sector
Kotnikova 5, 1000 Ljubljana
Phone: 01/369 77 00
E-mail: gp.mddsz@gov.si
Web Address: http://www.mddsz.gov.si/
Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia
Parmova 33, 1000 Ljubljana
Phone: 01/280 36 60
E-mail: irsd@gov.si
Web Address: http://www.id.gov.si/
Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia
Trubarjeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana
Phone: 01/244 14 00
E-mail: http://www.ivz.si/
The Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs and other institutions have created many free brochures and handbooks intended for young workers. These materials may be distributed among students.
Any information activity concerning safety and health at work is more than welcome.
Students and secondary school pupils will be better informed about safety and health at work, while you will gain the reputation of a student employment service that cares.
PREVENTIVE HEALTH CHECKS OF STUDENT WORKERS
Article 3 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Official Gazette RS, Nos. 56/1999 and 64/2001; ZVZD) determines that a worker is a person performing work for an employer on the basis of an employment contract or on any other legal basis. This means that a student performing work for an employer on the basis of a referral form issued by a student employment service is also deemed to be a worker as regards the provisions on occupational health and safety.
Furthermore, Article 15 of the above-mentioned Act stipulates that an employer is required to provide health checks for workers to the extent and in the manner provided for by the Rules concerning preventive medical examinations of workers (Official Gazette RS, No. 87/2002, hereinafter: the Rules). Regarding the extent, contents and time limits of each individual preventive health check, Article 3 of the Rules refers the employer to the risk assessment, with a particular emphasis on medical requirements determined by the employer on the basis of an expert evaluation by an authorised physician and the results of measurements of burdens, loads and nuisances in the working environment. The purpose of preventive health checks is to determine whether the health requirements for performing a particular work for the employer are being fulfilled.
Article 6 of the Rules determines the extent of a preventive health check as well as the types and extent of tests performed, namely:
- taking of the medical history,
- clinical examination with taking of basic biometrics,
- basic laboratory tests of blood and urine,
- radiography of thoracic organs in case of medical reasons
- a test of basic visual functions and a hearing test performed by means of whispering,
- other specific tests and examinations necessary for the determination of health condition with respect to working capacity, bearing in mind the risk factors at work,
- a medical certificate containing an assessment of fulfilment of specific health requirements for a particular work within a working environment.
Based on the above-mentioned provisions the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs (MDDSZ) believes that the tests and examinations defined in Items 1-5 are compulsory in respect of all workplaces, whereas the tests and examinations defined in Items 6 and 7 are to be performed in respect of those workplaces where it is evident from the risk assessment that a specific danger for the worker's health or an exposure to specific risks exist.
Considering that the extent of the tests and examinations defined in Items 1-5 is identical to the tests provided to the students within the programme of preventive health care of students, we believe that medical certificates acquired on the basis of health checks performed within the students' preventive health care programme satisfy the conditions as regards the workplaces in which workers are not threatened by any particular dangers or exposed to particular risks, provided that the tests were performed in the period not exceeding 5 years.
However, in cases where it is evident from the risk assessment for a particular workplace that there is a danger of exposure to particular occupational risks, the employer employing a student worker has a duty to provide the student with the full extent of health check determined in Article 6 of the Rules; the check must be performed by an authorised physician, specialist of occupational medicine, and within the time-limits determined in the safety statement for each individual workplace on the basis of an annex to the cited Rules.
All of the above also applies to the secondary school pupils working by means of referral forms issued by student employment services. In addition to that, we would like to emphasise that there are specific rules on the work of young people to be considered in respect of the work of secondary school pupils (Employment Relationships Act, Rules on protection of health at work of children, adolescents and young persons, Rules on the protection of workers from the risk related to exposure to carcinogens and mutagenic substances)