Electing occupational safety representatives

Occupational safety representatives represent all employees in matters related to health and safety at work. Everyone is entitled to stand as a candidate in elections for occupational safety representatives and to participate in electing an occupational safety representative for their own workplace.

Occupational safety representatives who are PAM members receive ongoing occupational health and safety training and have the chance to play an active role in occupational health and safety cooperation with different parties operating within the service sectors. This is why it’s important to elect an occupational safety representative who is a PAM member for every service sector workplace.

Nomination of candidates

An election starts with nomination of candidates at least 14 days before the election. The election committee will be informed of the candidates by the date specified in advance. 

Providing information on election results

The election committee will submit the minutes of the election of the occupational safety representative(s) to the employer. The employer will notify the Occupational Safety Personnel Register kept by the Centre for Occupational Safety of the elected individuals.

The election committee should also notify PAM of the election results using this form (in Finnish/Swedish). The notification is important, because PAM organizes training courses and events for occupational safety representatives and their deputies and prepares sector-specific material relating to working environments. Support and advice on organizing elections are available from PAM regional offices.

Here you can find instructions for electing an occupational safety representative and other relevant material.