Safety and health risks of women at work tend to be underestimated and neglected

A new Agency report Gender issues in safety and health - A review examines gender differences in workplace injury and illness, gaps in knowledge and the implications for improving risk prevention. It shows how the design of work, its organisation and equipment are often based on the model of the ‘average’ man, although the principle of matching work to workers is enshrined in EU legislation.  

 

In general it can be said that women suffer more from work related stress, infectious diseases, upper limb disorders, skin diseases as well asthma and allergies, while men suffer more from accidents, back pain and hearing loss. 

 

Recommendations from the report include the promotion and facilitation of a gender-sensitive approach in research, policy and prevention practices to help ensure effective prevention and avoid gender bias in occupational safety and health (OSH). 

 

Commenting at the launch of the report, Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou said ‘Improving the quality of women’s work is a fundamental part of achieving the European Union’s goal to significantly increase the participation of women in employment. This report shows how important it is to consider gender in risk prevention and include occupational health and safety in gender equality activities in order to improve the prevention of work related risks for both men and women.’ 

 

The Director of the Agency, Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, commented ‘Our study documents that the traditional gender-neutral approach to prevention can result in underestimation and even negligence of the real risks especially to the health of women. Risk assessment and prevention need to be more gender sensitive and in general take into consideration the ever increasing diversity of the European workforce.’  

 

Coinciding with the release of the report, the Agency has also launched a web feature on gender and occupational safety and health, providing links to a wide variety of resources from sources worldwide.  

 

- ENDS - 

 

 

Further information: please refer to the Agency website at http://osha.europa.eu 

 

Press contacts : Sarah Copsey, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Bilbao. Tel: (34) 94 479 43 78 e-mail: copsey@osha.europa.eu 

Other enquiries : European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Gran Via 33, E-48009 Bilbao, Spain, e-mail: information@osha.europa.eu , fax: (34) 94 479 43 83.  

 

 

1.The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work was set up by the European Union to help meet the information needs in the field of occupational safety and health. Based in Bilbao, Spain, the Agency aims to improve the lives of people at work by stimulating the flow of technical, scientific and economic information between all those involved in occupational safety and health issues.  

 

2.The Agency commissioned the report following the new community strategy for safety and health at work that has ‘mainstreaming’ or integrating gender into OSH activities as an objective for the EU. The report is available on the agency website at: http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/209/view 

 

3.Employment objectives of the European Union, as set out in the ‘Lisbon Strategy’, 2000 include increasing the participation rate of women in employment to 60% by the year 2010, within an aim of increasing overall participation to 70%. The strategy rests on the aim of not just creating jobs, but creating good quality jobs.(Lisbon European Council, March 2002).  

 

4.The gender website can be accessed at http://gender.osha.europa.eu 

 

5.In addition to the report, there the Agency has produced two factsheets, one providing a summary of the report, the other presenting a model for including gender in risk prevention. The factsheets are available in the 11 EU languages and are downloadable from the website at: http://osha.europa.eu/publications/factsheets/