E-fact 13 - Office ergonomics

Occupational Safety and Health culture assessment - A review of main approaches and selected tools

Occupational safety and health culture, or more briefly 'OSH culture', can be seen as a concept for exploring how informal organisational aspects influence OSH in a positive or negative way. The aim is to convey up-to-date information on this complex topic in a straightforward, condensed way, trying to build a bridge between research and practice. The main approaches and methods that exist to assess the safety culture in an organisation are presented and discussed. This review gives an overview and selection of useful tools and techniques from the EU domain and abroad.

Emergency services: occupational safety and health risks

The report shows that emergency workers have a high risk of suffering fatal accidents, injuries and other occupational diseases. Past disasters demonstrate that both communities and companies are often not fully prepared for major accidents and catastrophes. Better protection for emergency workers against occupational hazards should be given high priority, as current environmental, economic, and political developments suggest an increase in the severity and frequency of future disasters.

Summary - New risks and trends in the safety and health of women at work

In 2009 and 2010, the Agency commissioned an update to its previous research on gender issues at work , which found that inequality both inside and outside the workplace can have an effect on the health and safety of women at work. This summary provides a policy perspective and is meant to contribute to the task outlined by the European strategy on health and safety at work for EU-OSHA’s European Risk Observatory, “examining the specific challenges in terms of health and safety posed by the more extensive integration of women in the labour market”. It provides a statistical overview of the trends in employment and working conditions, hazard exposure and work-related accidents and health problems for women at work. It explores selected issues (combined exposures, occupational cancer, access to rehabilitation, women and informal work, and “emerging” female professions such as home care and domestic work). The research highlights the type of work carried out by women, issues faced by younger and older women, the growth of the service sector, violence and harassment, and increasingly diversified working time patterns as major risk factors.