Het Nederlandse ‘Poldermodel’: preventie van arbeidsgerelateerde risico’s in de agrarische sector

This article discusses the Dutch approach to preventing occupational accidents and diseases in the agricultural sector. First, attention is paid to the prevention of occupational accidents under public labour conditions legislation. This legislation focuses on the personal responsibility of employers for safe working conditions. Labour conditions legislation offers employers the opportunity to comply with legal requirements through semi-self-regulation. A typical example of this is the possibility of drawing up sector-specific “health and safety catalogues” in collaboration with social partners within the agricultural sector. In this way, employers themselves determine practical safety measures for their sector within the legal framework. The emphasis on self-regulation also applies to the monitoring of compliance with working conditions legislation: under certain conditions, employers are allowed to investigate occupational accidents themselves. In addition, civil law has a preventive effect on the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases. Employers have a civil law duty of care to ensure a safe working environment for employees. If an employer violates this duty of care, there is a risk of a claim for damages from an employee who is the victim of an occupational accident or disease. On top of this comes the civil law obligation to continue paying wages during illness. This obligation to continue paying wages provides a financial incentive to prevent unsafe working conditions and absenteeism due to occupational accidents. In short, the Dutch approach combines legal objectives, sector-specific (semi-)self-regulation and civil law financial incentives in the context of the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases.