New and emerging OSH risks –“Towards a sustainable working life”

NEW OSH ERA aims to increase the overall scale, effectiveness and quality of research into new and emerging risks through coordination of OSH research in Europe. In addition to this core objective, NEW OSH ERA also aims

• To promote the exchange of information related to new and emerging risks making available scientific knowledge on new and emerging risks at work to policy makers and other stakeholders and to facilitate the information flow and collaboration between researchers, research institutions, OSH funding agencies and all interested parties.
• To increase awareness of the importance of research into new and emerging risks as a precondition for effective prevention measures and sound policy decisions

To achieve these goals, the NEW OSH ERA consortium initiated the Forum on new and emerging risks which is planned to be an annual event and one of the key activities of NEW OSH ERA.

The aim of the Forum is

• To provide a platform for exchange of information on new and emerging risks at work
• To make available scientific knowledge to policy makers and other stakeholders
• To function as a link between the research community, the Commission, national governments, policy/decision makers, funding bodies and social partners

The audience included policy and decision makers at national and European level, social partners, programme owners and representatives of OSH research funding organisations, research directors and other OSH stakeholders.

The three keynote presentations emphasised the importance of work, not only to create wealth and purchasing power but also its social significance, and put forward evidence that work was good for health and good for socialisation, whereas unemployment and inactivity were negative influences on both the individual and on society at large.

We need to think more radically about the elimination of risks through changes in production, the use of new materials and by eliminating or substituting the hazardous for the safe option, not simply controlling the risk or taking remedial action on the effects.

This applies not only to “traditional risks” from chemicals, noise, vibration and machinery but also to design and work organisation, such as “clerical factories”, “Open Plan” offices and the regimentation of workforces, which is reappearing and is not particularly good for mental health and wellbeing at work. It is leading to an increasing number of psychosocial risks in the workplace including stress and fatigue, and mental illness accounted for a major part of long-term sick leave.

Public health and OSH were not in isolation…there are strong inter-relationships … not simply because if people were made ill from work they become a burden on the health system, but the fact that there are common goals and common activities.

It is evident there is no shortage or research, especially in Europe, but more focus and better coordination is needed.

There is evidence of convergence of research and policy, which is seen as “a good thing”, and would help in bridging the gap between knowledge being known and implementation.

There is less evidence that enterprises in their own right, particularly SMEs, were interested in research or research findings. They may be interested in the headlines or interested in the consequences but not the detail or the process. The challenge for the OSH community is to make it interesting, to make it relevant, and to make it applicable to enterprises.

So, there is a real challenge for OSH – in Frank Pot’s words, “How do we get our of the OSH ghetto? – very simply by engaging and working more closely with partners and colleagues in similar fields such as public health and enterprise, and by becoming a part of the community by joining the mainstream of policy-making and public administration rather than remaining on the fringes. Most important – by substituting the positive for the negative, by saying what to do rather than what not to do, and by driving the agenda for a change of thinking in terms of workplace design, workplace methods and workplace culture.

It was suggested to extend the invitation to NEW OSH ERA beyond the traditional OSH community and beyond the OSH research community by engaging with others from neighbouring disciplines. In doing so, it is important to go beyond an invitation and to seek an active and participative role so that others can talk about issues that were important to them rather than a passive role of listening to what was important to the OSH community. There is usually a common interest creating a bridge between the disciplines, and that is necessary to take NEW OSH ERA forward – “Go beyond the boundaries”.