Presentation by Linda Matisāne, Head of Cooperation and Development Unit, State Labour Inspectorate of Latvia

1. Use of Social Media by
Labour Inspectorates
Linda Matisāne
Head of Cooperation and Development Unit
State Labour Inspectorate of Latvia
28 April 2015, Riga

2. Source of data
 Results of the survey for the Latvian
Thematic day of the Senior Labour
Inspectors‘ Committee (SLIC)- 28 replies
in total:
o 27 Member states
o 1 EFTA country - Switzerland
o Belgium did not reply
 Results of the European Agency for Safety
and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)
questionnaire of national focal points
 Second European Survey of Enterprises on
New and Emerging Risks (ESENER-2)
 Twitter account of the State Labour
Inspectorate of Latvia
2

3. Are social media used by the
national labour inspectorates?
3
(17)
(11)
SLIC, 2015

4. How many different social media
are used?
4
(2)
(2)
(2)
(5)
SLIC, 2015

5. Which are the most popular social
media used by the national labour
inspectorates?
5
SLIC, 2015

6. Which countries use at least one
social media?
6
SLIC, 2015

7. Which countries use more than
one social media?
7SLIC, 2015

8. Please indicate whether your inspectors are
perceived by employers / employees more
as controllers /supervisors or consultants /
advisers on OSH
(1 - controller, 10 – adviser; average)
8
SLIC, 2015

9. Which countries use more than
one social media?
9
SLIC, 2015
EU-OSHA, 2014

10. The history of the most popular
tweet on OSH in Latvia
10
Regional seminar with
distribution of printed posters
1.
2.
4.
3.

11. Case study
(SLIC, 2015) Your organisation
receives a photo
from a store visitor
in the Facebook or
any other social
media account,
showing that the shop
assistant is cleaning
the aquarium with
fish. Personal
protective equipment
is not used. The post
contains
information on the
name of the shop
and address.
11

12. What are the answers by the national
labour inspectorate?
«Information
gained via
social media
is regarded
equal to a
complaint»
«The picture
looks like a
photomontage»
«Contact
shop
manager
via phone,
e-mail or
letter»
«Photo
cannot be
taken
account»
«A written
improvement
notice with a
deadline
would be
given»
(SLIC, 2015)
«Labour
inspector has
to carry out
the
inspection»
«An
administrative
sanction in
form of a fine
could be
applied»
12

13. In your establishment, how important
are the following reasons for addressing
health and safety?
Results of ESENER-2, all countries
% establishments reporting it to be a major reason
13
%

14. What was actually done?
14
ENG: Is this an accident or a standard
procedure (including link to the post in
Facebook)?

15. 15
ENG: We will check and soon
reply
ENG: The work must be done
by subcontractors not by our
employees
ENG: We will pay more
attention to OSH. Thanks for
observation

16. An example of growing interest of society
(January 2014 – December 2014)
EU-OSHA
2,475 fans
17,238 fans
2,475 fans
17,238 fans
+17,570 fans
+12,181 followers
8,535 followers
11,319
followers
8,535 followers
11,319
followers
+5,918 followers
3,613 referrers
5,122 referrers
3,613 referrers
5,122 referrers
16

17. Some remarks
 If only labour inspectorate uses social
media, then in most cases uses more than
one social media
 Not all labour inspectorates really
understand how to use social media
 E.g. when the received photo is signed
by the client of the shop and the
correspondence address is given, …
 E.g. media who sent the photo would be
informed by the head of inspectorate …
 There is a huge difference in
understanding of use of social media by
national labour inspectorates
 Use of social media might (should?)
change work of labour inspectorates
17

18. Thanks to:
All labour inspectorates who answered to the
questionnaire
EU-OSHA
Those who commented on Facebook after
posting a map of labour inspectorates using
Facebook
Everyone who uses social media to raise
awareness on OSH
18

19. Thank you for your attention!
Linda Matisāne
Head of Cooperation and Development Unit
State Labour Inspectorate of Latvia
28 April 2015, Riga