The CSE: responsibilities and operations

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Please note: This article concerns French legislation. The requirements described may not apply in other countries.

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Employee delegates (DP), the works council (CE), and the health, safety, and working conditions committee (CHSCT) are being gradually replaced by the Social and Economic Committee (CSE). A "Macron" ordinance merged these employee representative bodies. We introduced this new entity in a previous article.

An implementing decree [1] was published at the end of 2017. Furthermore, a law [2] passed in late March 2018 ratified the ordinance while introducing several changes. We will outline the clarifications provided by these texts regarding the responsibilities and operations of the CSE concerning workplace health, safety, and environmental matters.

CSE: companies with 11 to 49 employees

As was the case for the former DP, members of the CSE staff delegation must be informed upon receipt of certificates, instructions, results, and reports related to inspections and checks required of the employer regarding workplace health and safety (for example, electrical installation inspection reports). They may request access to these documents. In practice, you can inform the CSE of the receipt of these documents during each meeting.

CSE members may request to review all non-nominative books, registers, and documents mandated by Part Four of the Labor Code concerning workplace health and safety.

CSE investigations in the event ofworkplace accidents or occupational diseases are conducted by a delegation consisting of at least the employer (or their designated representative) and a staff representative serving on the CSE.

The CSE staff delegation may exercise its right to sound the alarm in situations of serious and imminent danger or regarding public health and the environment. This right is exercised in the same manner as for CSEs in companies with 50 or more employees. Consequently, a register for serious and imminent dangers and a register for public health and environmental alerts must be established within the company. These registers were not previously mandatory for companies with fewer than 50 employees.

Social and Economic Committee (CSE): companies with at least 50 employees

Health, safety, and working conditions inspections

The frequency of CSE health, safety, and working conditions inspections must be at least equal to the number of CSE meetings dedicated in whole or in part to these topics, which is a minimum of 4 inspections per year.

Economic and Social Database (BDES)

The BDES must still be established at the company level. It must now be made available to CSE members and updated regularly. For all companies, it must include the following data regarding health, safety, and the environment:

Data on part-time work and working time arrangements
Annual program for the prevention of occupational risks and the improvement of working conditions

Additionally, for companies with more than 300 employees:

Data on exposure to risks and arduous work factors, workplace accidents & occupational diseases, and safety-related expenditures
Environmental information included in the non-financial performance statement (DPEF) for companies subject to this requirement
Data for analyzing the comparative situation of women and men regarding exposure to arduous work factors, workplace accidents, and occupational diseases.

Facilities with authorized ICPE status

Like the former CHSCT, the CSE is involved in the environmental authorization procedure:

Documents attached to the application for authorization to operate an Installation Classified for Environmental Protection (ICPE) must be brought to the attention of the CSE before being sent to the prefect,
The authorization application file is sent to the CSE within 15 days of the launch of the public inquiry. The CSE has 15 days from the employer's receipt of the public inquiry report to issue a reasoned opinion on the file. The chair of the CSE must forward this opinion to the prefect within 3 days of the committee submitting it.

The CSE must issue an opinion on the internal operation plan (POI) when required.

Documents and information

As was previously the case for the CHSCT:

certificates, instructions, results, and reports relating to inspections and checks required of the employer regarding occupational health and safety must be presented to the CSE during the meeting following their receipt by the employer. Each CSE member may request that these documents be provided at any time,
the chair must inform the CSE of any observations made by the labor inspector, the medical labor inspector, and agents from social security prevention services (CARSAT, CRAMIF) during the meeting following their intervention.

Health, safety, and working conditions training

All members of the CSE staff delegation are entitled to training in health, safety, and working conditions. This training is similar to that previously received by members of the CHSCT and the DP.

It is designed to develop their ability to identify and assess occupational risks and their capacity to analyze working conditions. It also serves to introduce them to the methods and procedures to be implemented to prevent occupational risks and improve working conditions.

It must be provided upon the initial appointment of members, following a pre-established theoretical and practical program that takes into account the characteristics of the company's professional sector, the specific nature of the company, and the role of the CSE representative. It must be provided either by an organization on a list approved by the Minister of Labor or by an organization accredited by the regional prefect. At the end of the course, the training organization issues a certificate of attendance, which the individual submits to their employer upon returning to work.

CSE - replacing the functions of the CE, CHSCT, and DP

The prerogatives previously held by the CE, DP, or CHSCT are transferred to the CSE. The CSE must now be consulted, for example:

on the conditions for the provision and use of PPE before the PPE usage instructions are established,
on the usage instructions relating to ventilation systems,
on the choice of an autonomous or inter-company occupational health service,
on the list of high-risk positions requiring enhanced individual health monitoring,
...

The following must now be communicated to the CSE, for example:

the results of chemical risk assessments,
reports and study results provided by the occupational physician as part of their workplace activities,
...

Conclusion

Regarding occupational health and safety, the responsibilities of the CSE differ little from those of the former CHSCT and DP. For companies with between 11 and 50 employees, a register for serious and imminent dangers and a register for public health and environmental alerts within the company must now be implemented.

As a reminder, you must establish your CSE based on the expiration date of the terms of your DP, CHSCT, or CE, no later than December 31, 2019.

For terms expiring between January 1^st 2019 and December 31, 2019, the ratification law introduced the possibility of reducing their duration by a maximum of one year, either through a collective agreement or by employer decision after consulting the employee representative bodies.

[1] Decree No. 2017-1819 of December 29, 2017, regarding the Social and Economic Committee [JORF of December 30, 2017].

[2] Law No. 2018-217 of March 29, 2018, ratifying various ordinances issued under Law No. 2017-1340 of September 15, 2017, authorizing the government to take measures to strengthen social dialogue through ordinances [JORF of March 31, 2018].

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