Factsheet 68 - Expert forecast on Emerging Biological Risks related to Occupational Safety and Health
About 320,000 workers worldwide die every year of communicable diseases, some 5,000 in the European Union. In the last decade, media coverage has raised public awareness of biological hazards, such as anthrax at work due to bioterrorist activities, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the threat of avian flu. But biological agents are ubiquitous and, in many workplaces, workers face considerably harmful biological risks. The Community strategy 2002-06 called on the Agency to set up a risk observatory to anticipate new and emerging risks. The expert forecast on emerging OSH biological risks was formulated within this context, from the results of three consecutive questionnaire-based surveys using the Delphi method. This factsheet sets out to present the results of this forecast.
:
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
:
09.06.2007
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.
Legionnaires’ disease is usually thought of as a public health issue rather than an occupational health matter, even though it often strikes workers in places at high risk of outbreak (which include cooling towers, premises where mist machines are present, biological waste water treatment facilities, carwash plants, healthcare facilities, spas and hotels). This factsheet summarises the occupational aspects of exposure to Legionella. It is based on an overview of European policies related to Legionella and Legionnaires’ disease and case studies on how to control Legionella risks.
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.
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