New EU Strategy

The European Commission has launched a new five-year strategy for Safety and Health at work. It aims at cutting by a quarter work-related accidents across the EU.

The new European Strategy will cover the period of 2007 to 2012 and pursue the positive trends of the previous Community Strategy 2002-2006 which is already bearing fruit. Over the period 2002-2004, the rate of fatal accidents at work in the EU-15 has fallen by 17% while the rate of workplace accidents leading to absences of more than three days has fallen by 20%.

As promoted in the previous Community strategy evaluation, a particular emphasis is placed on partnership at European and national levels to achieve good results in safety and health.

Main challenges concerning health and safety at work

In spite of the progress achieved, the latest results of the fourth European survey of working conditions show that many workers in Europe continue to perceive that their jobs pose a threat to their health or safety:

• almost 28% of workers in Europe say that they suffer from non-accidental health problems which are or may be caused or exacerbated by their current or previous job;
• 35% of workers on average feel that their job puts their health at risk.

Moreover, occupational hazards are not being reduced in a uniform way:

• some categories of workers are still overexposed to occupational risks (young workers, workers whose jobs are insecure, older workers and migrant workers);
• certain types of companies are more vulnerable (SMEs, in particular, have fewer resources to put complex systems of worker protection in place, while some of them tend to be more affected by the negative impact of health and safety problems);
• certain sectors are still particularly dangerous (construction/civil engineering, agriculture, fishing, transport, health care and social services).

Objectives of the Community strategy 2007-2012

The European Commission has set itself an ambitious overall objective: to reduce by 25% the total incidence rate of accidents at work per 100 000 workers in the EU 27 for the period 2007-2012.

In order to achieve this goal, the following main instruments are proposed:

1. guarantee the proper implementation of EU legislation;
2. support SMEs in the implementation of the legislation in force;
3. adapt the legal framework to changes in the workplace and simplify it, particularly in view of SMEs;
4. promote the development and implementation of national strategies;
5. encourage changes in the behaviour of workers and encourage their employers to adopt health-focused approaches;
6. finalise the methods for identifying and evaluating new potential risks;
7. improve the tracking of progress;
8. promote health and safety at international level.

The role of the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work

As part of the community tools in the field of safety and health at work, the Agency remains a key player within this European strategy. In particular, the Commission has called upon the Agency to carry out the followings actions:

• ensure that its activities raise awareness and promote and disseminate best practice, focus to a greater degree on high-risk sectors and SMEs

  Learn more about:
  1. sectors
  2. SMEs

• draw up, through its European Risk Observatory, a report examining the specific challenges in terms of health and safety posed by the more extensive integration of women, immigrant workers and younger and older workers into the labour market. It will help to pinpoint and monitor trends and new risks and identify measures which are essential.

  Learn more about the European Risk Observatory




• review the extent to which health and safety aspects have been incorporated into Member States' vocational and occupational training policies. On the basis of this information and the opinion of the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work, the Commission will consider whether or not to present a proposal for a recommendation.

  Learn more about how to integrate OSH into education

• collect and disseminate information intended to support the development of occupational health promotion campaigns, in combination with the strategy and Community public health programmes.

  Learn more about our campaigns:

  1. Healthy Workplace Initiative
  2. European Week 2006 on Young Workers
  3. European Week 2007 on MSDs
• develop sectoral awareness-raising campaigns targeted in particular at SMEs, and to promote the management of health and safety at work in enterprises through the exchange of experience and good practices aimed at specific sectors

  Learn more about our campaign: Healthy Workplace Initiative

  See our information focused on specific sectors

• encourage national health and safety research institutes to set joint priorities, exchange results and include occupational health and safety requirements in research programmes

  Learn more about our work to encourage the setting of joint priorities and the co-ordination of OSH research



• The Risk Observatory of the European Agency should enhance risk anticipation to include risks associated with new technologies, biological hazards, complex human-machine interfaces and the impact of demographic trends.

  Learn more on:

  1. Emerging Risks
  2. Biological Hazards
  3. European Risk Observatory