The State of EPO Staff's Health in Rijswijk or The Hague
Last year: Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
The Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) has disseminated a new publication about wellbeing of the European Patent Office's (EPO) staff under the autocrat António Campinos, who compels the staff to do illegal things so that he can make more money and then bribe the voters (national delegates) to keep himself in power.
Not only the EPO clearly breaks the law; it spawned an illegal and fake patent court, Unified Patent Court (UPC), led by corporations and governed by a booster of European software patents - i.e. patents which are both illegal and undesirable. The EPO's governance is no better than that of a third-world country, except the people are dressed better and can utter some words in English (like, "I am the f***ing president!!").
Imagine working for such a corrupt institution; it must be corrosive to the mind, especially if you had some professional pride and a university degree.
"On 3 March 2025," people around The Hague were told last week, "Staff Representation met with the administration in the LOHSEC".
Here's the full message:
Dear Colleagues,On 3 March 2025, Staff Representation met with the Administration in the Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in The Hague.
The meeting addressed the topics of the sickness statistics, the situation of contracts for occupational health physician and external nurses, temperature in the offices in the main building in winter times, and the timeline for the improvement of the entrance of the bicycle shed on the Veraartlaan.
Read more in our report.
Kind regards,
Your staff representatives in The Hague - LSCTH
While converting the text below into plain text, HTML, and GemText I noticed "ISO certification", which I have good reasons to be cynical about [1, 2, 3]. Focus on shallow formalities, but never realities:
Staff Committee The Hague
Comité du personnel de La Haye
Personalausschuss Den HaagRijswijk, 4 April 2025
sc25005hpReport on the meeting of the LOHSEC The Hague
On 3 March 2025, Staff Representation met with the administration in the 74 th Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in The Hague. The meeting addressed the topics of the sickness statistics, the situation of contracts for occupational health physician and external nurses, temperature in the offices in the main building in winter times, and the timeline for the improvement of the entrance of the bicycle shed at the Veraartlaan.
During the meeting, which lasted from 13h00 to 14h00, the following points were brought forward by members of the Administration and H&S:
1. The evacuation alarm broadcast in the new main cafeteria was checked, and no issue was found (a lack of alert had been reported during the previous exercise).
2. The dedicated allocated parking places for pregnant women have been approved, and they are only pending the dedicated signs, due to be installed by the end of March. This point was raised at COHSEC level and is being implemented office-wide.
3. A nursing room in The Hague (TH) is operating, and it is sometimes also used for staff in need of some rest. Such a room is a legal requirement in The Hague.
4. Sick leave statistics were presented. There is a slight improvement over the last period, but the number of sick days per Full-Time Employee (FTE) is still well above pre-pandemic levels, and the long-term sickness is slightly increasing.
5. The occupational health physician indicated that one possible reason as to why examiners have a relatively higher sick leave is that due to production targets, examiners cannot afford to be working when not feeling fully fit and therefore report sick. Reintegration is, according to the physician, more difficult and more reduced working time is registered due to the type of work examiners do and the need to concentrate.
6. The Administration mentioned the ISO certification: no deficiencies were found, only a few areas of improvement which were not discussed in the current LOHSEC meeting. A review of all management systems is scheduled for April 2025.
The following four points were brought forward by the Staff Representation:
1. Nurse capacity
The Staff Representation raised concerns about a possible reduction in nurse capacity following the termination of two nurses' contracts in December 2024, and questioned how long this situation would persist. The Administration emphasized that the service continues to be provided; however, the Staff Representation expressed the view that nurses on fixed-term contracts cannot deliver the same level of service. This is not only because they have limited time to build relationships with colleagues, but more importantly because they cannot fully familiarize themselves with the specificities of the EPO legal framework and the particular healthcare needs of EPO staff.
The Office confirmed that the current contracts are valid through 2025 and that a new tender for an occupational health physician and external nurses will be launched thereafter. This issue has been raised multiple times, and it is clear that there is a fundamental difference of opinion between the Administration and the Staff Representation. The Staff Representation maintains that employing an office doctor and nurses under permanent contracts is the best way to ensure continuity. Historically, permanent staff have delivered a consistently high level of service over many years, while staff turnover in Occupational Health Services (OHS) under fixed-term arrangements tends to be relatively high.
The Administration expressed hope that the current service provider, Master Arbo, will participate in the upcoming tender, although this is not guaranteed. From the Administration’s perspective, a contract with an external company capable of providing doctors and nurses with a long-term commitment is preferable. While the Administration shares the goal of ensuring continuity, it acknowledged that absolute continuity cannot be guaranteed, pointing out that even staff on permanent contracts can decide to leave or retire (sic).
2. Climate control issues
The Staff Representation raised concerns about inadequate climate control in some rooms on Monday mornings. Medical staff conducting the periodical health checks for EPO employees reported having contacted the Service Line "hundreds of times" without success regarding persistent low temperatures in the facilities they use.
The Administration responded that, over several consecutive days, the recorded temperature has never fallen below 20°C, with the minimum possible temperature not dropping below 18°C. They added that all reported issues are systematically addressed. Facility Management emphasized the need to strike a balance between energy savings and maintaining a comfortable indoor climate.
The Staff Representation noted that multiple colleagues have opted to work from home on Mondays during cold weather, anticipating suboptimal temperatures in their workspaces at the EPO premises in Rijswijk. It was further mentioned that personal thermometers used by staff may not always provide accurate readings. In case of doubt, staff can request an official measurement using a calibrated thermometer by contacting the Safety Officer.
The Staff Representation also referred to a comment made by Facility Management — "once it was minus five degrees Celsius over the weekend, and we struggled" — and asked whether maintaining comfortable temperatures on Monday mornings is realistically achievable after severe winter conditions. Facility Management assured that it is feasible to ensure a comfortable indoor temperature even following very cold weekends. However, they acknowledged that this winter there was an isolated incident involving a technical failure with the heating pumps.
The Administration concluded that, in the unlikely event that acceptable indoor conditions cannot be maintained despite all efforts, a partial closure of the affected building would be considered.
3. Bicycle entrance improvements
The Staff Representation inquired about the timeline for the planned improvements to the deficient design of the bicycle shed entrance on Verartlaan. The Administration reported that the project has been initiated, with the aim of installing a functional ramp. Planning is still ongoing, and the works are scheduled to take place between the third and fourth quarters of 2025.
The Staff Representation requested that the project details and drawings be shared with them. The Administration confirmed that no 3D renderings are available at this stage but assured that the objective is to create a smoother and more accessible entrance.
4. Nurse attendance at LOHSEC meetings
Finally, it was noted that our permanent nurse, Noeleen, does not work on Mondays. A request was made to reschedule the LOHSEC meetings to enable her participation.
Kind regards,
Your Local Staff Committee the Hague
We're going to cover the EPO some more later in the month.
The EPO did not improve in any way; calm or quiet (to the outside) may simple mean that the oppression or the autocracy became more effective while expelling or driving out moral (i.e. dissenting) voices. Sort of like antiwar people in Russia. █