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Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in The Hague: Staff Representation Surprised at "Recent Changes in the Staffing of OHS Occupational Health Services (OHS)"

Posted by Roy Schestowitz on Nov 11, 2025,

updated Nov 11, 2025

The EPO's staff representatives in Rijswijk (or in The Hague) have spoken to the Administration of António Campinos, who had brought cocaine addicts to the Office. "On 8 October 2025, Staff Representation met with the Administration in the Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in The Hague," said the Local Staff Committee The Hague. "The meeting addressed the topics of changes to staffing in the Occupational Health Team in The Hague, issues observed during the last Office evacuation exercise, and information about the ongoing renovation of the bike shed."

Here's their summary, dated this week:

Rijswijk, 10 November 2025 sc25015hp

On 8 October 2025, Staff Representation met with the administration in 76th Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in The Hague. The meeting addressed the topics of changes to staffing in the Occupational Health Team in The Hague, issues observed during the last Office evacuation exercise, and information about the ongoing renovation of the bike shed.

During the meeting, which lasted from 10.00 hrs to 11.30 hrs, the following points were brought forward by members of the Administration and Occupational Health Services (OHS):

• OHS announced that interviews are being concluded for an internal EPO nurse in The Hague and for an OHS front-office position (EPO staff).

• OHS is preparing a presentation for all staff about navigating the Dutch healthcare and invited the Staff Representation to bring points forward for it. Staff Representation welcomed this initiative and indicated to be ready to be involved in the preparation, if so desired.

• The Administration did the customary presentation of the points discussed during the previous session of the COHSEC1 which took place on 1 October 2025.

• OHS reported on the last sick leave statistics2.

• Other topics included data protection of medical data in different procedures: the Administration intends to inform staff completely on this topic, following a request of Staff Representation on data protection in medical reimbursement disputes.

The following three points were brought forward by Staff Representation:

1. Staff Representation expressed surprise at recent changes in the staffing of OHS, and that it would be very much welcomed if the administration would engage in a more fluid communication with Staff Representation when it comes to staffing of what is considered by Staff Representation as one of the most valued services at EPO.

_________

1 see COHSEC/DOC 09/2025 (OHS Objectives 2026) and COHSEC/DOC 10/2025 (agenda points by the COHSEC members of the CSC)

2 see COHSEC/DOC 12/2024

The Administration took note of this, and agreed to check the contents of the team composition published on the Intranet, because of the apparent inconsistencies pointed by Staff Representation.

2. Staff Representation brought forward a number of deficiencies observed during the last evacuation exercise. A number of them were observed in one of the main staircases which is not an evacuation route, including the barely audible alarm broadcast messages, and the lack of signs in several places on the way to the meeting point outside the parking.

A problem reported by Staff Representation was the lack of guidance for the crowd assembled at the entrance of the parking, who stayed inside and did not walk all the way to the actual meeting point marked for evacuations.

The lack of signage on sight from several points within the main parking was also brought forward.

The last point discussed was the lack of clear protocol for returning to the building; colleagues just follow the flow whenever that flow starts moving inside, without clear instructions from security.

It was agreed that Staff Representation would meet with the Occupational Safety Expert to follow the route and point at the alleged deficiencies.

The Administration will communicate to safety personnel about how and when to give instructions to staff on when it is safe to return to the building.

3. Staff Representation requested the Administration to publish clear information about the plan for the bicycle parking under the new main and pointed at the already discussed need of basic ergonomic improvements of the access.

The following two points were brought forward by both the administration and the Staff Representation as AOB’s.

1. The Administration explained that the current provider for the biennial medical examination was not meeting the service level expected and that for this reason there was a tender ongoing with an implementation of the new service in January 2026.

2. Staff Representation enquired about the reasons to stop offering flu vaccinations to children of EPO staff. The administration pointed at the need to align across sites, and secondly, to a change in the Dutch regulations stating that children below 9 require two vaccinations within a certain period of time, which makes the scheduling much more complicated for the Administration. Therefore, staff needs to rely on the national healthcare systems.

Kind regards,

Your staff representatives

See (2) above (last part). Once upon a time the Office offered to-notch services to all staff. Nowadays they just get salary cuts. █