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A delegation from EU-OSHA is taking part in the conference ‘Positive safety culture towards Vision Zero’ in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 11 June. The event is part of the programme of the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU, which concludes in June.
The opening ceremony features Mario Nava, Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, and William Cockburn, Executive Director of EU-OSHA. Cockburn also moderates a keynote speech alongside the Agency's Brussels Liaison Officer.
Senior Research Project Managers from EU-OSHA take part in various sessions, presenting the Agency's work on integrating a positive safety culture into the upcoming Healthy Workplaces Campaign ‘Together for mental health at work’ as well as on emerging occupational safety and health risks and their prevention in relation to climate change.
Check the full conference programme
Managers play a vital role in creating safe, healthy and supportive workplaces. A new OSHwiki article explores how managers can help prevent and manage psychosocial risks by recognising workplace risk factors, supporting open communication, involving workers and promoting good work organisation.
The article highlights that psychosocial risks should be managed like any other occupational safety and health risk: through prevention, early action and a structured approach.
It offers useful insights for managers, employers, OSH professionals and anyone committed to improving mental health and wellbeing at work.
One of the latest episodes of the European Commission’s ‘Just Europe’ podcast, titled ‘Jobs that work: safe and fair in a changing world’, features EU-OSHA Executive Director William Cockburn discussing occupational safety and health (OSH) in the EU.
During the episode, Cockburn highlights the importance of research in identifying emerging workplace risks. He also stresses the need to listen to workers and encourages employers and workers to work together to better understand day-to-day experiences and prevent safety and health risks at work.
Other guests include Maria Albin, Professor and contributor to the EPHOR and INTERCAMBIO Horizon projects; Klaus Heeger, Secretary General of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI); and Robert Marinkovic, Adviser at the International Organisation of Employers (IOE).
The biennial Eusebio Rial-González Innovation & Practice Award in Occupational Health Psychology, presented by EU-OSHA and the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology (EAOHP), has been jointly awarded to Professor Ari Väänänen and Dr Warszewska-Makuch.
Professor Ari Väänänen, from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Työterveyslaitos, FIOH), has significantly advanced the understanding of mental health at work by highlighting the role of organisational, societal, and cultural factors.
Dr Magdalena Warszewska-Makuch, from the Polish Central Institute for Labour Protection - National Research Institute (Centralny Instytut Ochrony Pracy - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, CIOP-PIB), has contributed to the prevention of psychosocial risks at work in Poland through the development of practical tools and guidelines on issues such as bullying and work-related stress.
Established in 2016 in memory of Dr Eusebio Rial-González, founding member of EAOHP and esteemed EU-OSHA colleague, this award recognises outstanding contributions to occupational health psychology.
The award ceremony will take place on 17 June at the 17th EAOHP conference in Helsinki, Finland, from 15 to 17 June, where EU-OSHA colleagues will also deliver presentations.
To mark Pride Month, a new EU-OSHA report highlights how workforce diversity shapes exposure to psychosocial risks - and what can be done to prevent them. The findings show how discrimination and inequality, job insecurity and precariousness, a poor social environment and work organisation, result in stress, anxiety and burnout, especially for more vulnerable groups.
EU-OSHA has published an article in the European Journal of Public Health on the results of the Workers’ Exposure Survey (WES) in the health and social care (HeSCare) sector.
The article presents findings showing that 29.5% of HeSCare workers were exposed to at least one cancer risk factor during their last working week, while 7.8% were exposed to two or more risk factors.
It also highlights the most common sector-specific exposures to cancer risk factors. For example, the most frequent exposures estimated to occur at a high level in HeSCare were formaldehyde (2.3%) and ethylene oxide (2.0%).
Read the press release
Read the article
Explore the new web thematic section on cancer and work
Related publications
Related publications
23/05/2025
Reports
Number of pages
40
This report focuses on findings of the Workers’ Exposure Survey on cancer risk factors in Europe (WES) in the health and social care (HeSCare) sector. It shows that 29.5% of HeSCare workers were exposed during the most recent working week to at least one of 24 cancer risk factors assessed in WES, and it provides unique insights on the use of control and prevention measures at work.
The findings can inform targeted prevention in the sector, help to raise awareness on occupational carcinogens and support policy initiatives at EU level.
Summary & Resources
WES-Health-social-care-sector_EN.pdf
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