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Putting OiRA at the centre of risk prevention strategies

the OiRA team

Several new OiRA tools were published in 2013 with support from EU-OSHA. This takes the total number of tools available to 15. But more importantly, there is now an OiRA community actively working together across Europe to make risk prevention easier. And the outlook for this year is even more promising, with around 50 more tools under development.

What new tools are available?

  • Hairdressing tools for Belgium (in French and Flemish) and Portugal
  • A Spanish tool for driving schools
  • A Catalan tool for the leather and tanning industry
  • A Lithuanian tool for car repair workshops
  • Catering tools for France and Greece
  • A Latvian tool for office work
  • A private security tool for the EU.

The private security tool is the second that has been developed through EU sectoral social dialogue.
New tools under development cover sectors as diverse as agriculture, educational establishments, live performance, cleaning and many others.
It is now widely recognised that tools like OiRA are the way forward in promoting occupational safety and health (OSH) in small and micro enterprises. Such tools help to overcome resource aspects with regard to knowledge or time that small businesses face. This is where OiRA can help — it makes risk prevention easy and it’s free for everyone.
This way small companies can enjoy best the benefits that managing OSH brings. By reducing absences and increasing staff retention, business performance is improved. In difficult economic times, that’s a compelling reason to make use of the OiRA tools.
What does 2014 and beyond hold for OiRA? OiRA enables the easy development of tools. The more tools OiRA includes, the easier it becomes to develop new ones – based on knowledge and input used for other tools. Supporting such tools with the necessary strategic background, best given by national OSH strategies, provides the best guarantee of success.
Looking further ahead, the next generation of OiRA tools will see new developments in terms of flexibility and responsiveness to users’ needs. More opportunities for users and developers to exchange ideas provide a way forward for new and advanced tools. There’s a lot going on in OiRA and connected interactive risk assessment tools — read the latest news and developments.