Sectors and occupations

Introduction

Traditionally, there has been a focus within Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) on what are regarded as the ‘high-risk’ industrial sectors such as mining (and quarrying), fishing and construction. This is reflected in the preparation of specific OSH Directives covering these sectors. To some extent this reflected a focus on the ‘headline’ issue of fatal accidents where these sectors tended to predominate. More recently however, there has been a growing recognition that, although such accidents are clearly important, this adopts a somewhat narrow perspective that may not provide the best reflection of OSH concerns, or the overall burden of…