Job applicants should get their first medical check from their own family doctor, the Ministry of Health proposes in a draft of a new regulation. The draft is on the ministry's website for public comment, which runs for one month.
The regulation sets out how mandatory pre-employment and periodic medical checks of workers and staff are done, depending on the type of job, working conditions and age. It covers all companies and workplaces, whatever their form of organisation or ownership.
It does not apply to seafarers, to people who work with sources of ionising radiation, or to other groups for which a law or other legal act sets special rules on fitness for work and/or medical certification. Those special rules apply to them.
A pre-employment check is required for people starting work for the first time and for those who have been out of work under an employment contract for more than three months. The same goes for night workers before they start. A check is also needed when someone moves to another job with the same employer, or joins a new employer, if the job carries risks to health and safety and a risk of occupational illness.
Job applicants pay for pre-employment checks. Employers pay for periodic checks and for the pre-employment check of night workers.
All workers and staff have periodic checks throughout their working life. These are meant to monitor health on a regular basis and to spot early any changes in the body caused by the work environment and work process, as well as occupational and work-related diseases and socially significant diseases.
If checks can be done at the company itself, the employer must provide suitable rooms and conditions that meet the requirements for medical care. The time spent on checks counts as working time. Where possible, they are held during the worker's normal working hours.
According to the reasons given for the draft, a check by the family doctor will cut costs for job applicants. The current regulation is being changed to bring it in line with the law and to reflect the real situation under the country's new social and economic conditions.
The reasons also say the aim is to update the rules on medical monitoring to fit modern conditions and advances in medical science. This should make it easier to get qualified medical care when an occupational disease is suspected.
Personal data on health, physical and mental development and other information in medical records is protected under the Personal Data Protection Act. The doctor who carries out the tests and checks enters the results in the National Health Information System.