European ‘Lighten the Load’ Summit

Presenter: Katya Adler
Welcome:

• Joseba Azkarraga, Basque Minister for Justice, Employment and Social Security

• John Monks, General Secretary, ETUC (video message)

• Kris De Meester, BUSINESSEUROPE

• Jean-Jacques Atain Kouadio, Institut national de recherche et de sécurité (INRS)

Chair and rapporteur: Antti Karjalainen, EUROSTAT

Presentations:

• MSDs - facts and figures from the EU and from EU Member States
  Elke Schneider, Project Manager, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Bilbao, 

• Results of MSDs surveys
  Agnès Parent-Thirion, Head of Monitoring and Survey Unit, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions

• MSDs in France – monitoring and recognition – a national experience
  Nicole Guignon, Expert Demograph, DARES, Ministry of Labour, France

Discussion:

• Paul Litchfield, ETNO (Europe’s telecoms and electronic communications operators)

• Are Solli, UNI-Europe (Telecom)

Chair and rapporteur: Sean McConnell, the Irish Times

Presentations:

• Prevention of MSDs by workload optimisation based on external and internal load assessment methods
  Danuta Roman-Liu, MSDs Expert, The Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute, Poland

• Ergonomics approaches to the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders: examples of Italian successful ergonomics solutions
  Adriano Papale, Researcher and Expert in Ergonomics, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Prevention, Italy
  

• Work-related MSDs - Preventive Programmes in Visteon Corporation
  Burkhard Pelzer, Occupational Health & Ergonomics Europe, Visteon Corporation, Germany
  

Discussion:

• Andreas Lill, Director General, EFCI, (European Federation of Cleaning Industries)

• Roland Gauthy, Research Officer, ETUI-REHS, Health and Safety Department, Belgium

Chair and rapporteur: José Ramón Biosca de Sagastuy, European Commission

Presentations:

• Work-related interventions improving return-to-work of workers with MSDs and some Dutch examples
  Birgitte Blatter, Team Leader, Research Centre Physical Activity, Work and Health TNO VUmc, The Netherlands

• A nationwide programme for early rehabilitation of low back pain workers
  Philippe Mairiaux, Professor, Chair Scientific Council, Belgian Fund for Occupational Diseases, Belgium

• Repetitive Strain Injuries: Impact, recovery and successful return to work
  Stephen Fisher, Chairman of Trustees, RSI Action, United Kingdom

Discussion:

• Arnold Brum, GEOPA-COPA (the Employers' Group of the Committee of Agricultural Organisations in the European Union)

• Arnd Spahn, Agricultural Secretary, EFFAT (European Federation of Food, Agriculture, Tourism Trade Unions)

Presenter: Katya Adler

European report of ‘Lighten the load’ campaign – Peter Rimmer

Reports from the morning workshops:

• Workshop 1: MSDs in figures: the data and the statistics

• Workshop 2: Prevention of MSDs in the workplace

• Workshop 3: Back to work and reintegration

Presentations by two Good Practice Award winners

• Systematic ergonomic workplace design in sewing work (MEWA Textil-Service AG&Co). Wolfgang Schwan, Engineer Bureau Schwan Frankfurt, Germany

• Minimising the risks to musculoskeletal disorders in the company Savatech d.o.o. Ms Vesna Cadež, Director Savatech d.o.o., Slovenia

Keynote speakers

• European inspection and communication campaign on manual handling of loads 2007/2008 by SLIC (the Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee)
  Inge Jonker, Project Leader, Dutch Labour Inspectorate, Netherlands

• Musculoskeletal disorders: a fatality?
  Roland Gauthy, Research Officer, ETUI-REHS, Health and Safety Department, Belgium

• Manual handling of gypsum products - ergonomics based on risk assessment
  Serge Azaïs, President, Eurogypsum - the European Association of Gypsum Product Manufacturers

Closing of the Summit

• Jukka Takala, Director, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work