The Recommendation encourages Member States to implement various measures to promote the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases among self-employed:

The guidance document provides general information on the causes, symptoms and consequences of work-related stress, both for workers and organisations. The focus is on primary prevention of work-related stress and ill-health, rather than on treatment. It also offers advice on how to identify work-related stress problems and their causes, and proposes a practical and flexible action framework that both social partners and individual companies can apply in their own situations.

In 2004, the European Trade Union Confederation, the Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe, the European Association of Craft Small and Medium-sized Enterprises as well as the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of general Economic Interest signed the framework agreement on work-related stress.

Within the framework of their joint working programme (2006-2008), the social partners agreed upon an evaluation of the implementation of the framework agreement.

With this agreement, European social partners condemn work related violence in all its forms, and recognise that violence can have an adverse effect on the workplace of each worker.

The agreement states that harassment and violence are due to unacceptable behaviour by one or more individuals and uses the following definitions:

Aim