Conditions at work may strongly influence your health: consider the lighting, air quality and ventilation, noise, psychological stress, working hours and other factors. Your right to health is also closely linked to your right to safe and healthy working conditions.
Everyone has the right to safe and healthy working conditions. This means that risk factors for a person’s health or even life should be minimised at the workplace.
Health risks at the workplace include not only risks to physical safety (heat, noise, dangerous chemicals or risk of physical injury) but also psychological and emotional risk factors: stress and long working hours.
The Labour Protection Law of Latvia guarantees the safety and health protection of employees and self-employed persons at work. It determines labour protection rights and obligations for
- employers
- employees
- self-employed persons
- State authorities
Based on the Labour Protection Law of Latvia, an employer must ensure mandatory health examination for employees whose health is/may be affected by working conditions.
note Global Monitoring Report “WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-Related Burden of Disease and Injury, 2000–2016” reveals that long working hours (55 hours per week and more) is the occupational risk factor leading to the greatest number of health problems (most often stroke and heart disease).