How can skills, vocational education and lifelong learning help Europe respond to economic, social, green and digital transitions?

This question frames European Skills & VET Week, led by the European Commission and Cedefop. The Week is a platform for policymakers, employers, experts and educators to exchange good practices and discuss how learning systems can support people, businesses and society in a rapidly changing world of work.

Occupational safety and health belongs within this wider skills agenda. As new ways of working bring emerging risks, workplaces across sectors need the knowledge and tools to assess them and take preventive action.

This is where OiRA, EU-OSHA’s Online interactive Risk Assessment platform, plays an important role. OiRA enables EU and national partners to create sector-specific risk assessment tools in a simple and standardised way.

With over 350 tools available and more than 600,000 risk assessments started, OiRA shows how structured, sector-specific guidance can make risk assessment more accessible and support prevention in everyday work.

See how OiRA works and help bring prevention into Europe’s skills agenda.

We are examining occupational biomonitoring practices in a new EU-OSHA report. Biomonitoring is the measurement of exposure to substances or their metabolites in human tissues and fluids, helping to control exposure to dangerous substances at work.

The report presents biomonitoring practices in the EU and Norway, including general criteria for biomonitoring and national guidance. The analysis shows that biomonitoring is most often undertaken following a risk assessment and/or the recommendation of an occupational physician rather than as a routine occupational assessment tool.

Learn more in the Biological monitoring at work guide and the annex on lead