Employers must commission full occupational-health review every 3 years

Estonian employers must have an occupational physician analyse the company's occupational-health situation as a whole, and must commission that analysis regularly as needed and at least once every three yearsSM. The first analysis was due by 1 January 2026SM. The analysis is a mandatory part of the occupational-health service: the employer orders it from a töötervishoiuarst, who may involve other specialists and may visit the working environment to propose improvements.

The physician's service covers more than health checks. The physician reviews the employer's töökeskkonna riskianalüüs and visits the workplace where necessary, analyses the company's overall occupational-health situation, carries out employee health checks on the basis of the risk analysis, proposes improvements to working conditions and health promotion, and advises both the employer and employees. Where sickness absence clusters, the analysis can draw on absence and general health statistics, including work-related problems; where accidents recur, it examines whether they link to a department, task or cause. The physician passes to the employer only health data strictly necessary for improving the working environment and directly connected to that work, never diagnosis data. The employer must apply the physician's proposals for improving conditions unless they would impose disproportionately high costsRiigiteataja, adding them to the risk-analysis action plan where needed.

For kaugtöö, the employer reflects the risks arising from the nature of the work in the risk analysis and applies measures to prevent or reduce health risks taking remote-work specifics into account. Remote-work risks may be mapped in generalised form rather than assessed separately for each employee and each place the work is done, such as the home, a library, a cafe or a train, covering for example poor posture, poor lighting and psychosocial hazardsSM. Before admitting an employee to remote work, and regularly as needed thereafter, the employer instructs the employee on managing those risks and shaping a safe workstation; the employee must then shape a safe remote workstation following the employer's instructions. The employer provides work equipment suitable for the tasks, arranges health checks, investigates occupational accidents and diseases, and pays sick pay under the statutory scheme. The remote workstation itself is arranged by agreement between employer and employee, and other occupational-health and safety duties apply only so far as remote-work specifics allow.

A health-check decision made for a previous employer may be relied on where the employee presents it, with timing taken from that decision where the hazards and work type match. The decision form carries a field for the hazards and work types underlying the check, showing what a check covered; in doubt, the employer consults the occupational physician. Health checks are carried out during working time with average daily pay, and the employer bears the costs of the service. Legal basis: Töötervishoiu ja tööohutuse seadus § 13¹ (occupational-health service, comprehensive analysis and health checks), § 13⁵ (employer duties for remote work) and § 14 (employee duties).