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Occupational health and safety (OHS) is a major element of the labour relations aimed at protecting human life, preventing occupational accidents and diseases and protecting the health of the employees and the natural environment. OHS is an obligation of employers in the public and private sector in accordance with International Conventions, Directives of the European Union and provisions of the internal legal order. The article aims to present the most important challenges that employees in the Greek public sector face in the field of OHS, mainly through the study of the legal framework and the good practices of the public sector in other countries, as well as the comparison with those in force in the private sector. It also quotes initiatives that can be taken in order to prevent and improve the safety and health conditions of the employees, in the light of a complex economic, social, political and technological environment, where new occupational hazards are constantly emerging, as recently demonstrated by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this way, the institutional framework of the OHS in the public sector can be aligned with the modern requirements and contribute to the improvement of the lives of the employees, the better provision of services to the citizens and the increasing efficiency of the public sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Union has adapted an employment strategy since the decade of the 1990s that has affected all its member states. This policy is referred in the European Employment Strategy as the set of microeconomic and social policies that affect the labor supply and demand, the functioning of the labor market and the organization of internal labor of businesses. In fact, the national employment policy choices of the member states are appreciably reduced over the years. Indeed, European Union has a special competence in employment affairs in accordance with European Union Treaties. However, European Union priorities and European Integration have shaped a broader framework within which the member states implement their national employment policies. The resulting conclusion is that the European Union actually directs the member states' employment policy choices and there is not a fundamental margin for them to plan national employment policy. Especially in the case of Greece, which came under the strong supervision of European institutions during the last years of economic crisis of 2008, the possibility of pursuing an autonomous national employment policy was more limited, due to the financial constraints and the policies it was obliged to follow during the memoranda and enhanced supervision period. Regardless of this, the conclusion that emerges is that the European Union essentially directs the member states' employment policy choices, especially those with fiscal problems such as Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]