Work safety in an enlarged Europe
News release - 15.06.2005
'The enlargement has provided us with a much larger pool of experience and expertise to share among Member States', say Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, the Agency's Director, and Luis Lopes, the Chairperson of the Agency's Administrative Board, in the report's opening statement.
The Bilbao-based European Agency for Safety and Health at Work launches its annual report, summarising the Agency's activities in a year which saw the EU's membership grow from 15 to 25 Member States.
'The enlargement has provided us with a much larger pool of experience and expertise to share among Member States', say Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, the Agency's Director, and Luis Lopes, the Chairperson of the Agency's Administrative Board, in the report's opening statement.
The Agency capitalised on this by intensifying its pan-European programmes, including the European Week 2004 on construction. The campaign culminated in bringing together top representative bodies in Europe's EUR 900 billion construction industry and of the Dutch EU presidency to sign a landmark declaration committing its signatories to improve the industry's safety and health standards.
Other 2004 highlights include:
- SME Funding Scheme promoting health and safety in European small and medium-sized companies – an independent evaluation last year showed the recent scheme reached more than 700 000 SMEs.
- Exploring the commercial value of occupational safety and health – with a new report and a working paper the Agency pinpointed criteria for commercially productive CSR strategy and a strong link between higher OSH standards and higher productivity.
- Devising an enlargement action plan for 2005-2006 with two main thrusts: mass information campaign in the new Member States and knowledge transfer adapting SME Funding Schemes' expertise to new Member States' individual circumstances.
- Focusing on high-risk sectors, with new factsheets published on violence and other hazards in education sector, and special web features developed for the construction and fishing industries.
- Addressing the issues of disability and gender with the help of new information materials, a dedicated web feature and a seminar.
- Mainstreaming OSH into education - a report analysing 32 initiatives across Europe described how to successfully integrate OSH into school and university curricula.
- Monitoring tomorrow's risks by collecting and analysing the data required to launch a Risk Observatory in 2005.
In 2004 the Agency produced and distributed more than 4 million copies of publications in up to 20 languages. The number of visitors on the Agency's website doubled to nearly 3 million.
The annual report can be downloaded from the agency website ( http://agency.osha.europa.eu) .
Ends
Press contacts:
Marek Kosarczyn, Press Officer, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, email: kosarczyn@osha.europa.eu
, tel: +34 94 479 43 86.
Other enquiries:
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Gran Via 33, E-48009 Bilbao, Spain,
Email: information@osha.europa.eu , fax: +34 94 479 4383.
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. The Annual report in EN and summaries in the 20 EU languages can be downloaded from: http://agency.osha.europa.eu/publications/annual_report/index_en.htm.
