Getting the safety and health message across in an enlarged social Europe
News release - 25.03.2004
As Europe gears up for enlargement on 1 May 2004, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has added nine languages to the interface of its corporate website (http://agency.osha.europa.eu).
As Europe gears up for enlargement on 1 May 2004, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has added nine languages to the interface of its corporate website ( http://agency.osha.europa.eu).
One of the Agency’s main roles is to organise the flow of information on occupational safety and health (OSH) throughout the EU, enabling workers, employers and authorities to have access to state-of-the-art knowledge, especially examples of ‘good practice’ solutions to the main safety and health problems.
As well as producing a wide variety of publications, from research reports to practical factsheets, the Agency has established a network of more than 30 partners (focal points) in Europe and worldwide which over past two years has grown to include all acceding countries.
This network is linked electronically via the Agency’s family of websites, providing the world’s most comprehensive source of OSH information ( http://osha.europa.eu).
‘Raising the standards of safety and health at work is a key element of Europe’s unique Social Model,’ says Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, Director of the Agency. ‘The accession countries have already transposed the EU’s comprehensive safety and health directives into national legislation. The main challenge now is to ensure that these legal standards are converted into real improvements in working conditions. The Agency is looking forward to support this process through our multilingual online information system and other initiatives in co-operation with our partners in the accession countries to develop safe, healthy and productive workplaces across an enlarged Europe.’
Over the coming weeks, Mr Konkolewsky is visiting all 10 of the accession countries to meet government representatives and leading members of the Agency’s national information networks.
Amongst the information activities of the Agency and its focal points in 2004 are:
- A Europe-wide information campaign targeting the construction sector.
- The provision of good safety and health practice in the agriculture sector.
- A study of the effectiveness of economic incentives to encourage improvements in safety and health.
- Preparation for an information campaign in 2005 on noise at work.
ENDS
Further information:
Please refer to the Agency website at http://agency.osha.europa.eu
Press contacts:
Finn Sheye or Anton Verplanke, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Bilbao. Tel: (34) 94 479 43 68 or (34) 94 479 4674 e-mails : sheye@osha.europa.eu or verplanke@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.
Notes to editors
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.Key facts about safety and health and physical risks and working conditions in the accession countries
According to the most recent figures from the International Labour Organisation (2002):
- the incidence rate of work-related fatalities in the accession countries (not including Cyprus) is almost three times higher than in the EU-15 (9.6 per 100,000 persons in employment compared to 3.4 per 100,000 in the EU-15).
- The work-related absence rate (over a three-day period) is also approximately three times higher for accession countries (not including Cyprus) than for the EU-15.
According to recent European research (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2003)
- 40% of accession and candidate countries’ (ACC) workers believe their health and safety is at risk due to work, compared to only 27% in the EU-15.
- Workers in the ACC report significantly higher exposure to various physical risk factors such as dangerous substances/fumes and noise.
- A higher proportion of these workers (41%) report suffering from fatigue as a result of their work compared to their counterparts in the EU-15 (23%)
- Workers in the ACC work longer hours, the average time being 44.4 hours per week compared to the EU-15 average of 38.2.
- 38% of ACC workers work more than 45 hours per week compared to only 21% in the EU-15.
- Unsocial working hours (such as night work or shift work) are more prevalent in the ACC.
- The self reported accident rates in the ACC’s for a number of other health problems mirror those of the EU15 including stress (28%), backache (34% ACC’s; 33% EU-15), muscular pains in neck and shoulder (23%).However, better information on physical risk at the workplaces in the ACC’s than in the EU15.
3.Article 31 of the
European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights
, signed at the Nice summit in December 2000, addresses the issue of fair and just working conditions. The article reads as follows: ‘1. Every worker has the right to working conditions which respect his or her health, safety and dignity. 2. Every worker has the right to limitation of maximum working hours, to daily and weekly rest periods and to an annual period of paid leave.’ (EN 18.12.2000 Official Journal of the European Communities C 364/15).
4.In March 2000, at the Lisbon Summit, the European Union set out a new strategic goal for the next decade: ‘to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.’
5.Adapting to Change in Work and Society: A new Community strategy on health and safety at work 2002-2006 calls for ‘an effective transfer of experience and knowledge’ between existing Member States and the accession countries. Specific attention needs to be paid to the strengthening of technical assistance programmes, using partnership arrangements, to integrating the accession countries into the relevant EU institutions and bodies and to promoting social dialogue at all levels, particularly in firms.
