Reports
Providing policy-makers and health and safety professionals with high-quality, up-to-date information is vital if we are to make progress in combating safety and health problems in Europe. Our reports present the outcome of research, which will help to inform discussion among EU and national authorities, trade unions and experts on how to take forward issues in health and safety.
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published 21.12.2011
- One conclusion from the EU-OSHA economic incentives project is that incentives schemes should not only reward past results of good OSH management (such as accident numbers in experience rating), but should also reward specific prevention efforts that aim to reduce future accidents and ill-health. Experts from the economic incentives project therefore suggested the development of compilations of innovative and evidence-based preventive solutions, starting with the three sectors construction, health care and HORECA (hotels, restaurants, catering). The preventive measures from these compilations are worth promoting in their own right, as well as being applied in economic incentives schemes. These preventive solutions can be used as a basis for incentive-providing organisations to develop their own incentive scheme, adapted to the specific situation in their sector and country.
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published 29.11.2011
- 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.
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published 07.10.2011
- Mental health promotion (MHP) includes all the actions that contribute to good mental health. Its primary aim is to focus on what maintains and improves our mental wellbeing. It is important to highlight that optimally effective MHP should include a combination of both risk management and health promotion. In this good practice report you can find information on how to integrate MHP into a comprehensive approach to enhancing and promoting the health, safety and wellbeing of employees at work. Several of the case studies are particularly interesting because of their innovative and creative approaches.
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published 26.09.2011
- Agricultural workers suffer 1.7 times the average rate of non-fatal occupational accidents and 3 times the rate of fatal accidents, making the sector particularly hazardous. This guide describes the main hazards and risks associated with maintenance activities in agriculture and the most common causes of accidents and ill health. The guide also provides advice on risk management, examples of good practice in accident prevention and policies and campaigns at national level. Finally, it includes examples of checklists for safe maintenance in agriculture.
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published 13.09.2011
- 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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published 11.07.2011
- The report of Phase 2 of the “Foresight of new and emerging risks associated with new technologies in green jobs by 2020” identifies a shortlist of key technologies likely to be found in green jobs and have an impact on OSH by 2020. The list includes green technologies in the construction, transport, manufacturing, waste treatment and wind energy sectors; nanotechnologies; bioenergy and biotechnology; electricity transmission and storage; and domestic applications of emerging energy technologies. In Phase 3, a series of workshops is exploring the potential emerging OSH risks from these technologies in order to develop future scenarios helping decision makers to anticipate these risks.
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published 11.05.2011
- This report contains examples of campaigns and initiatives to improve occupational safety and health (OSH) in the road transport sector. The campaigns use individual as well as collective approaches; some target drivers only while others involve their employers, other stakeholders and even families. Using information that is relevant to drivers, practical but not patronising, has been shown to be effective, and using a variety of approaches probably works best.
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published 11.05.2011
- This report contains case studies in managing risks to road transport drivers. The cases cover freight drivers and bus drivers and feature a variety of initiatives and interventions to protect drivers. They show that by taking account of how the sector operates in practice, and the characteristics of drivers themselves and the way they work, risks can be successfully managed.
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published 28.04.2011
- As part of the European Campaign 2010–11 on Safe Maintenance, EU-OSHA organised the European Good Practice Awards Competition (the tenth such competition), aiming to identify examples of good practice in the management of occupational safety and health during maintenance. The awards recognise organisations that have made an outstanding and innovative contribution to Safe Maintenance. Through the competition EU-OSHA promotes good practice solutions at the workplace and shares information about good practice across Europe. Forty entries from 22 Member States and Turkey were received, including organisations of all sizes and from a wide variety of industrial sectors.
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published 28.03.2011
- The transport sector is one of the growing sectors in the European economy and highly affected by change: a growing proportion of women, migrant and part-time workers, rapid ageing of the workforce and many technological innovations. Transport workers are exposed to multiple physical risks, suffer violence, and many have unusual working times and repetitive and monotonous work. The consequences are high accident rates, musculoskeletal disorders, stress and fatigue. This report reviews the OSH risks of a wide variety of transport occupations, by analysing statistics and studies, and through selected case examples of prevention. The report has a broad scope: it covers all transport subsectors (rail, water, air and road) and is intended for both those working in the sector and policymakers.
