EU-OSHA Blog

Within the framework of the EC funded IPA Action 2023-2025, EU-OSHA organised with the support of the Italian FOP authority I.N.A.I.L., the 3rd IPA Regional Conference on the topic of Prevention of OSH risks related to dusts in the workplace. 

The conference represented a very important platform to ensure informal OSH dialogue and information and knowledge exchange with and among the IPA beneficiaries. EU-OSHA supported the participation of 6 EUMS speakers, 4 from the Italian FOP authority, 1 from the Latvian FOP authority and 1 from Germany, as well as a total of 12 OSH experts from 6 IPA beneficiaries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye. 

During day 1 (9 April), following the opening by Michele Dinelli, EU-OSHA IPA project manager, and Francesca Grosso, EU-OSHA Italian FOP manger, EU-OSHA and EU Member States representatives provided relevant OSH knowledge on the topic of prevention of OSH risks related to dusts. In particular, EU-OSHA explained the main legal obligations deriving from the EU acquis, including the importance of a full approximation, implementation and enforcement; I.N.A.I.L. shared the Italian experience in tackling wood dust (Emma Incocciati), silica dust (Marco Mecchia) and the imact of dusts on workers' health (Maria Rosaria Marchetti); Lothar Lieck, shared the German and EU Nordics experiences; and Linda Matisane, from the Latvian Labour inspectorate, shared the Latvian approach.

During day 2 (10 April), OSH experts from the IPA beneficiaries had the opportunity to provide information about national practices and difficulties in the sector. Interesting exchanges and clarifications were provided during both days.

The event was a fantastic opportunity to bring together the IPA beneficiaries and offer them an informal in-person platform to ensure good networking with EU-OSHA and among each other and also to look ahead at further areas for OSH support by the EU agency.