Law No. 2021-1018 of August 2, 2021, to strengthen prevention in occupational health, transposes the national interprofessional agreement (ANI) concluded by the social partners on December 10, 2020. It fundamentally reforms occupational health (a summary of the new measures implemented is provided below).
Key measures to strengthen occupational health prevention
Strengthening the content and traceability of the DUER (single document for assessing occupational risks):
New obligations relating to the DUER (Single Risk Assessment Document) are being put in place:
- Obligation to consult the CSE: it will be necessary to consult the CSE prior to the implementation of the DUER, as well as during each annual update;
- Obligation to retain: the DUER must be kept, with its annual updates, for at least 40 years;
- Filing obligation: the DUER, with its annual updates, must be filed electronically on a digital portal managed by employers' organizations;
- Obligation to make available: the DUER, with its annual updates, must be made available to workers or any person or body that can justify an interest in having access to it.
Moreover :
- For companies with more than 50 employees: they will have to establish an annual program for the prevention of occupational risks and the improvement of working conditions;
- For very small and small businesses: they will have to define actions for risk prevention and employee protection.
Creation of a prevention passport
A specific document listing the qualifications obtained by a worker (or job seeker) in the context of health and safety training is created by these new provisions, called a prevention passport.
This document lists the attestations, certificates and diplomas obtained by the worker upon completion of such training.
This information is provided by the employer, particularly regarding health and safety training courses offered at their initiative. It is also provided by training organizations or by individual workers.
The employer may, with the worker's permission, consult the data contained in this prevention passport as part of their obligation regarding health and safety training.
Expanding the definition of sexual harassment to include group behavior
The definition of sexual harassment is extended to situations where the employee is subjected to comments or behaviors:
- Coming from several people, in a concerted manner or at the instigation of one of them, even if each of them did not act repeatedly;
- Or coming successively from several people who, even in the absence of consultation, know that these remarks or behaviors characterize a repetition.
Other measures
- Extension of periodic negotiations to the topic of quality of life and working conditions;
- Increase in the number of days of training in health, safety and working conditions for elected CSE representatives;
- Health and safety training for health and safety representatives is now mandatory.
Key measures aimed at strengthening the obligation of medical monitoring and the fight against job loss due to health issues
These new provisions require additional medical visits with the occupational physician:
- Mid-career medical visit: it must be organised during the year of the employee's 45th birthday (or at another deadline defined by industry agreement) and aims to verify the suitability of the employee's health status to their job, to assess the risks of professional disengagement and to raise the employee's awareness of the challenges of aging at work and the prevention of occupational risks;
- Liaison meeting between the employee, the employer and the SPST (occupational health and safety service) in the event of long-term work stoppages: it must be organised at the initiative of the employee or the employer and is intended to inform the employee of actions to prevent professional disengagement, the possibility of a pre-return medical visit as well as the use of existing individual measures (job adjustment, adjustment of working time, etc.).
Other measures are also provided for by the so-called health law, in particular:
- Creation of the shared medical file (DMP): its purpose is to ensure better medical monitoring of workers and can be consulted and updated by the occupational physician, with the consent of the employee (who has been previously informed of their options to restrict access to their file);
- Creation of a multidisciplinary unit for the prevention of professional disengagement within the SPST: it will be led and coordinated by the occupational physician or a delegate and is responsible for proposing awareness-raising actions on professional disengagement, identifying individual situations, proposing individual measures and supporting the worker in a situation of disengagement;
- Recourse to a vocational rehabilitation agreement for disabled workers declared unfit or for workers for whom the occupational physician has identified a risk of unfitness during a pre-return-to-work examination: it is intended to be concluded between the employer, the employee and the Primary Health Insurance Fund and must determine the terms of vocational rehabilitation.
