EU-OSHA Blog

Within the scope of the EC funded IPA Action 2020-2022, the Directorate General for OSH of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Türkiye invited EU-OSHA to participate at the 2-day TAIEX workshop on "Tackling musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace in the post-pandemic era" organised in cooperation with TAIEX of DG NEAR of the European Commission. The aim of the workshop was to consolidate the national legislation by gathering all OSH stakeholders and discuss the ways of mitigation with the post pandemic safety and health impacts of COVID-19 on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), such as measures taken, best practices, implementations, risk assessment, prevention, etc. In addition, the workshop was aimed at receiving information on the EU Framework Agreement on Telework (2002) and other specific legislations of EU countries to discuss the implementation of the “Remote Work Regulation” issued in 2021 in Türkiye.

Following a welcome and opening remarks from the EU Delegation and by Professor Mustafa Necmi Ilhan (Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the Turkish Gazi University), who ensured the smooth implementation of the event acting as facilitator, Tim Tregenza (EU-OSHA) presented the main EU legislative aspects of Remote Work and Michele Dinelli (EU-OSHA) introduced to the audience the activities of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work as well as the contents of the Healthy Workplaces Campaign 2020-2022 "Lighten the Load". The event saw the participation also of the following speakers who shared OSH knowledge and best practice with the audience represented by social partners representatives from national companies and NGOs as well as by health occupational doctors (overall about 100 participants).

Gülay Gedikli (DG OSH) andn Evrin Dağkaldıran Demiralp (DG Labour) introduced respectively the national legislation on MSDs and on remote work. Alenka Škerjanc (from Ljubljana University Medical Centre of Slovenia) shared with the audience the main aspects of the Slovenian legislation. Andre Klussmann, (from the University of Hamburg, Germany) explained the ergonomic risks and provided information on the MEGAPHYS Project. Christoph Mühlemeyer (from the German Institute of Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics) delivered a presentation on using Key Indicator Methods to assess the risks of physical workloads. Frank Krause (from the Dutch Organisation for Applied Scientific Research) introduced key preventive measures to eliminate/control risks and to managing MSDs through early intervention. Sultan Pınar Çetintepe (from the Public Health Department of Turkish Gazi University) reported on the health surveillance for the prevention of MSDs in the workplace. Alenka Škerjanc introduced the remote working related MSDs and important recommendations for employers and employees.  Andre Klussmann presented a systematic approach to preventing MSDs. Finally, Zeynep Ünlüer (from the FNSS - Defence Systems Inc of Türkiye) and Burak Eminoğlu (from Kastamonu Integrated Forestry Industry and Trade Inc. of Türkiye) introduced national good practices on the topic.