SLI in Working Groups

SLIC brings together management level representatives from all 27 EU Member States. Among the Committee's tasks are: developing and submitting opinions to the Commission on problems in the application of Community health and safety legislation; defining common principles for the operation of labour inspections in the EU; evaluating the labour inspection systems of the Member States; coordinating pan-European inspection campaigns; providing a system for the rapid exchange of information and experience; organising exchanges of labour inspectors; developing documents supporting the activity of labour inspectorates. Experts of the State Labour Inspection participate in the Committee's working groups, take part in the Labour Inspector Exchange Programme and engage in activities supporting SLIC's European campaigns and other initiatives.

The Group is composed of representatives from all 27 Member States sitting on the SLIC Committee. The Group's task is to contribute to the process of promoting equal, effective and efficient enforcement of secondary EU legislation in the field of occupational health and safety in the Member States by identifying relevant topics, making recommendations and preparing the content of decisions of the Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee (SLIC), with an emphasis on general aspects of enforcement.

The group's mandate is to support SLIC in its enforcement activities by developing an OSH strategy, improving communication and strengthening cooperation with other relevant bodies (such as ELA, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in Bilbao, ILO, etc.), without prejudice to the proper cooperation of the working groups according to their scope of activity.

The group aims to support SLIC in its efforts to improve the enforcement of the EU OSH legislation for mobile workers; to identify possible needs for specific OSH enforcement actions for vulnerable workers or those belonging to specific groups such as mobile workers, seasonal workers, posted workers; to promote synergies with the European Labour Authority (ELA).

The MACHEX Working Group is tasked with supporting SLIC in promoting consistency in the enforcement of the Machinery Directive and related New Approach Directives.

The CIRCABC KSS system is a web-based tool for the exchange of information between labour inspection offices in Europe. The aim of the KSS Project WG is to establish procedures and rules for the operation of the KSS system in relation to the extended functionality of the system (new module), to encourage Member States to use the system and to provide support from the KSS Team. In addition, representatives of the SLI, acting as the national KSS system coordinator and deputy, systematically participate in training workshops, also as trainers.

The group is tasked with developing appropriate tools/guidance to support enforcement action, such as a guide on evaluating risk assessments in relation to ensuring the health and safety of those teleworking or working from home. The group will also develop and evaluate guides for labour inspectors on diversity-sensitive risk assessment, prevention of musculoskeletal disorders and prevention of psychosocial risks.

The Biolex Working Group is tasked with supporting the SLIC in promoting consistency in the application of EU secondary legislation on health and safety at work with biological agents and developing common and appropriate tools and solutions to enforce the protection of workers exposed to biological agents in the working environment.

The CHEMEX Working Group aims to support SLIC in promoting consistency in the application of EU secondary legislation on health and safety during the use of chemicals in the workplace, its interaction with REACH/CLP and other applicable EU legislation, and to assist national labour inspectors in enforcing compliance in this area.

This subgroup within the WG Chemex addresses issues related to the long latency of diseases caused by exposure to chemical agents. The subgroup is tasked with developing tools and resources to transfer knowledge (primarily on asbestos and sensitisers) to national labour inspectorates, prioritising substances of particular concern, such as carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive toxicants and sensitisers, to ensure a consistent enforcement approach.

The group is tasked with preparing common objectives, principles and tools for the implementation of the European SLIC campaign for 2023-2024, which will address the topic of accidents at work.

The group is tasked with evaluating the labour inspection system in Austria on the basis of the 'Common Principles for Labour Inspection' and preparing an evaluation report.

As decided by the ELA Board, coordinating and supporting national labour inspections in the implementation of concerted and joint inspection activities was one of the main priorities of the ELA during its start-up period. In relation to this priority, the ELA Working Group on Inspections developed a range of expected outcomes with a view to supporting inspection activities. The documents developed by this group are intended to facilitate cooperation between the institutions involved in organising and carrying out concerted or joint cross-border inspections.

The tasks of the UDW Platform include: to increase knowledge of undeclared work, including its causes, regional differences and its cross-border aspects, to deepen mutual understanding of different systems and practices to combat undeclared work, to analyse the effectiveness of policy measures, including preventive measures and penalties, to facilitate and evaluate different forms of cooperation between Member States, to develop tools, for example a knowledge bank, for effective exchange of information and experience, to develop implementing guidelines, manuals of good practices, common inspection rules to combat undeclared work and to carry out joint actions such as European campaigns, to evaluate experiences with such tools, to develop a mutual learning programme to identify good practices in all areas related to the fight against undeclared work, to organise peer reviews to follow the progress in counteracting undeclared work in the Member States participating in such reviews, to exchange experiences of national authorities in the application of Union law against undeclared work.

The aim of the project is to strengthen cooperation and mutual assistance between Member States by promoting increased and more efficient use of the Internal Market Information System (IMI) modules on posting of workers and road transport.

NLI has participated in the work of the Administrative Cooperation Group (ADCO) since 2004. The main objective is to exchange information and experience between labour inspectors across the EU on activities supporting the implementation of the Machinery Directive 98/37/EC (as amended by Directive 2006/42/EC) and Directive 89/655/EC concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work, in all EU countries.

The meetings of the group enable a representative of the NLI (since 2005) to learn about  the work carried out by the Commission to facilitate the interpretation of the provisions of Directive 89/686/EEC. Information is exchanged on whether specific PPE meets the essential requirements.

The group is composed of representatives of EU specialised bodies carrying out inspections within the scope of Directive 95/16/EC on the regulation of the manufacture and use of lifting equipment. NLI has been present in the group since 2006.

Participation in the group serves the purpose of exchanging information and practices on market surveillance of pressure equipment and reviewing the activities of public administrations and market surveillance authorities related to the scope of Directive 97/23/EC. NLI has been present in the group since 2005.

The participation of an NLI representative in the Group's meetings is in the capacity of a supporting expert in the area of market surveillance in the context of the preparation of the new Regulation on machinery and equipment.

The meetings of the European Enforcement Project (EEP) on the contained use and deliberate release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) provide an opportunity to exchange experiences on inspection methodologies. They also provide an opportunity to learn about practical approaches to inspection in the context of EU legislation and to get an idea of the direction of contained use activities for GMOs in Europe. The meetings and exchange of information within the EEP are mainly attended by representatives of ministries and supervisory institutions competent for GMOs from EU countries.

The group's task is to develop the content for a common e-form for the posting of workers declaration and the technical guidelines for the introduction of such a tool, which is intended to be a fully digitised system for the notification of posted workers. It aims to minimise the administrative burden for employers posting workers in the framework of the provision of services, but also to make it easier for the competent authorities of the host country to control compliance with the rules on posting of workers. Participation of Member State representatives in this project is voluntary.