Expert forecast on Emerging Biological Risks related to Occupational Safety and Health

General Summary

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’. This report sets out to present the results of the forecast on emerging OSH biological risks, which is the second forecast of emerging risks carried out in this context.

Read a 2-page-summary of the report: Factsheet 68 - Expert forecast on Emerging Biological Risks related to Occupational Safety and Health

Foreword

Executive summary

This publication presents the results of an expert forecast on emerging biological occupational safety and health (OSH) risks based on the Delphi survey method. The top ten risks identified in the expert survey relate to: OSH risks related to global epidemics; the emergence of drug-resistant organisms; poor risk assessment; lack of information on biological risks; inadequate safety and health training for workers; poor maintenance of water and air conditioning systems; combined exposure to biological agents and chemicals; endotoxins in the workplace; indoor moulds; and waste treatment.

1 Introduction

The chapter gives some background information on biological agents in the workplace, on the report, and defines the term 'emerging risks'.

2 Methodology

European experts were surveyed and asked to identify the emerging OSH biological risks, using the Delphi method. Under this method, the results of the previous survey round are fed back to the experts for further evaluation until a consensus is achieved. A five-point Likert scale was used to rate the risks. This chapter explains the Delphi method and how the results were analysed.

3 Expert participation

Thirty-six experts from 20 Member States, as well as Switzerland, participated in the survey. These experts had at least five years’ experience in the field of OSH and biological risks. We explain how the experts were selected and who they are.

4 Main emerging biological risks identified

The chapter presents the top ten emerging biological risks identified by the experts, together with the mean value of their ratings and the standard deviation. Experts’ comments are also included. Literature reviews explore in more depth six out of the top ten risks in terms of context, workers at risk, health and safety outcomes and prevention:

5 Complete results of the survey

All risks mentioned in the expert forecast on emerging biological OSH risks are presented, thematically grouped into four categories:

The mean values of the experts’ ratings, the standard deviations and the experts’ comments are also provided.

6 Conclusion

The conclusion brings together some of the main findings and themes of the report. The forecast emphasises how important it is that biological risks are dealt with globally and in cooperation between disciplines such as OSH, public health, animal health, environmental protection and food safety. It also shows that knowledge about biohazards is still relatively undeveloped and that a proper assessment of biological risks is difficult. Better methods for assessing exposure to biological agents and well-established dose-effect relationships need to be developed.