Veronika Weissová, consultant in the Department of Specialised Supervision (2)

Veronika is a sociable person who likes to spend her free time with her friends and family. She loves going for walks in the countryside, as well as more active exercise in guided lessons. Her friend and beginning instructor recently introduced her to yoga, which Veronika can at least practice at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Department of Specialised Supervision at EUC PLS

Consultants in the Department of Specialised Supervision, where Veronika works, carry out inspections in the area of occupational medical services at our clients’ workplaces. The clients are varied, ranging from major corporate entities to small firms. Our team is composed of a manager, who is in charge of the department, an assistant, who is our right hand, and sixteen consultants. Two of the consultants are responsible for inspections at manufacturing companies, where there are high-risk workplaces (work classified by the employer in categories 2R, 3 and 4 in the work categorisation document), while other consultants are responsible for “non-production”, i. e. work classified in categories 1 and 2. Every client has its own key consultant to whom they can turn with questions in the area of occupational medical services.

The department’s activities and the coronavirus

Inspections are carried out for the purpose of finding and evaluating risk factors, occupational health risks and working conditions. For the employer, such inspection activities are a statutory obligation that has not been restricted by regulation even at this time. Therefore, our activities were not suspended in the second wave of COVID-19 and we continue to carry out inspections while equipped with masks or respirators, gloves and disinfectants.

Because we are from various regions throughout the Czech Republic and we administrate the region entrusted to us ourselves, we work from home and in the field. The whole team meets at least once per month at the company’s headquarters in Prague. At this time, when it is more difficult to meet in person, we communicate at least on a daily basis via e-mail or by telephone.

The light and dark sides of a consultant’s work 😊

A consultant performs approximately ten inspections per week at various clients. The work is demanding in terms of organisation. It is important to plan visits with clients ideally in one city or in its immediate vicinity. When planning, we of course have to take into account the time that we spend onsite and travelling to different workplaces. It very often happens that a company postpones an inspection a day before it was scheduled, so it is difficult to quickly arrange an inspection with another client. Furthermore, we unfortunately have no influence over traffic; if we are delayed, we immediately call the client to apologise. Sometimes this involves detective work to find the contact information for the given firm, but we have our assistant or key consultant for the given firm for that. On the other hand, this work is very diverse and involves meeting a lot of new people. The possibility to work from home and flexibility in the form of planning one’s own workday are definitely benefits.

Preparation, workplace visits and inspection records

If a repeat visit to a client is involved, it is necessary to read the most recent inspection record in advance so that we can recall the recommendations that we gave the employer for improving the employees’ working conditions. In the course of an inspection, we determine changes that have occurred in the workplace and whether defects have been eliminated. We further determine how many employees are at the given branch and what their work regimen is. We ask about work-related injuries and illnesses. We also focus on the OSH binder, where we find the prepared work categorisation documentation and check whether the employees have been familiarised with it as required by law. We provide information on the performance of preventive medical examinations of employees and check medical assessments. Together with the client, we tour the workplace and inspect the lighting and ventilation of the work environment, workspaces and their ergonomics, and facilities for employees. A necessary part of this is inspection of the placement, labelling and contents of first-aid kits. At home, we process the inspection record, in which we write everything down, and then give the employer recommendations on eliminating defects that are in conflict with the legal regulations in force.

First-aid training and specialised consulting activities

Among other things, we conduct trainings in the provision of first-aid. In more extensive tailored trainings, we use illustrative demonstrations of resuscitation aids – an automated external defibrillator and resuscitation mannequin (known as Annie). We can provide consulting activities in relation to, for example, updating work categorisation documentation, modifying workspaces and handling loads. We generally collaborate on addressing clients’ initiatives.

Your EUC PLS Specialised Supervision Team