Previous Healthy Workplaces Campaigns

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Previous Healthy Workplaces Campaigns

The Healthy Workplaces Campaigns have been running since 2000, formerly under the title ‘European Weeks for Safety and Health at Work’.

In 2007, the duration of each campaign increased from one year to two years, responding to the increasing need to raise awareness of safety and health issues at different levels by providing accessible data, information and tools over a more sustained period of time.

The campaigns have grown from strength to strength, with:

  • A wider and stronger network of stakeholders and campaign and media partners committed to the campaign
  • More campaign materials being produced and distributed or accessed online
  • Wider media coverage, reaching a more diverse and international audience
  • The development of more resources and new initiatives

The success of the Healthy Workplaces Campaigns, their capacity to permeate organisations at different levels and the positive cascade effect from policy-makers to shop floors are largely due to the commitment and effort of the broad range of network of partners, which encompasses all professional profiles across a range of sectors.  This network is central in promoting workplace safety and health in different sectors across Europe.

Read more about previous campaigns

2018 - 2019: Healthy Workplaces Manage Dangerous Substances

Exposure to dangerous substances is much more common in Europe’s workplaces than most people imagine andmore must be done to protect workers from such hazards. The 2018-19 Healthy Workplaces Manage Dangerous Substances campaign aimed to raise awareness of dangerous substances in the workplace and the risks they pose, and to create a culture of prevention by disseminating campaign materials and carrying out promotional and engagement activities. It generated a knowledge base on how to effectively manage dangerous substances, including information on the existing legal and policy framework, good practice solutions, tools and instruments, and ideas for successful communication and awareness-raising actions.

Specific highlights of the campaign were attributed to vulnerable groups, substitution and carcinogens and work-related cancer, which accounts for the highest proportion of fatal occupational diseases in the EU. As one of the legacies of the campaign, EU-OSHA continues to be an active partner of the Roadmap on carcinogens,a European action scheme to reduce such exposure.

2016 - 2017: Healthy Workplaces for All Ages

The Healthy Workplaces for All Ages campaign[EU-OSHA1]  promoted the importance of sustainable work — that is, safe and healthy working conditions from the start to the end of a person’s life. With Europe’s workforce ageing and retirement ages rising, it is becoming ever more important that working conditions are safe, healthy and fair. This will enable people to work for longer and retire in good health

The campaign highlighted ways of managing OSH in the context of an ageing workforce and encouraged the exchange of information and good practices. Demographic change affects most workplaces in Europe. However, by introducing measures to ensure that work is sustainable, enterprises and organisations can minimise negative effects and increase productivity, making work safer and healthier for everyone. 

2014 - 2015: Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress

healthy workplaces campaign 2014

Stress is the second most frequently reported work related health problem in Europe and, along with other psychosocial risks, is thought to account for more than half (50–60 %) of all lost working days. A poor psychosocial work environment can have significant negative effects on workers' health.

Psychosocial risks occur in every workplace, but even with only limited resources they can be successfully assessed and managed. This campaign provides support and guidance for workers and employers in managing work-related stress and psychosocial risks, and promotes the use of practical, user friendly tools to facilitate this.

2012 - 2013: Working together for risk prevention

healthy workplaces campaign 2012

The Agency’s campaign for 2012-2013 focuses on risk prevention. In simple terms, prevention is about managing work-related risks with the ultimate aim of reducing the number of work-related accidents and occupational illnesses.

Final responsibility for managing risk lies with employers and top management, but their efforts are bound to fail without active worker participation.

For these reasons, this campaign places special emphasis on the importance of leadership by top management and owners working in tandem with active worker participation.

2010 - 2011: Safe Maintenance


Maintenance is a very common activity: it affects every workplace, in every industry sector, and it concerns everyone at every level (not just workers with ‘maintenance’ in their job description).

This campaign emphasised the importance of safe maintenance as being at the heart of good health and safety working practice.

And while the specific details vary between industry sectors (depending on the specific types of machinery that are used, for example), it identified principles that are common to proper maintenance, in all of Europe’s different workplaces.

Campaigns objectives :

  • Raise awareness of the importance of maintenance for workers’ safety and health, of the risks associated with maintenance, and of the need to carry it out safely;
  • Raise awareness of employers’ legal and other responsibilities to carry out safe maintenance, and of the business case for doing so;
  • Promote a simple, structured approach to OSH management in maintenance, based on an appropriate risk assessment (the ‘five basic rules’).

The ultimate aim, of course, is to help to reduce the number of people who are being hurt or are experiencing ill health as a result of inadequate maintenance or lack of maintenance, now and in the future.

More information:

2008 - 2009: Risk assessment


Risk assessment is the cornerstone of health and safety management in the workplace.

The overall aim of this campaign was to promote an integrated management approach to risk assessment, helping organisations to carry it out systematically, and act on its results.

It sought to raise awareness of the legal obligations that employers have to carry out risk assessments, but also to demystify the risk assessment process; risk assessment is not necessarily complicated, bureaucratic or a task only for experts. It advocated a simple, step-by-step approach, and also one in which the workforce is consulted and involved.

Our Online interactive Risk Assessment tool (OiRA) is the legacy of this campaign and can be seen as the 21st century solution to the challenge of promoting occupational safety and health to micro and small enterprises. The OiRA project has the potential to help many thousands of small companies across the EU to carry out risk assessments in a simple and cost-effective way.

More information:

2007 - 2008: The Healthy Workplace Initiative


The Healthy Workplace Initiative aimed to provide employers and workers at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with easy access to information on how to make their workplaces safer, healthier and more productive.

It ran in 12 European Member States: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania as well as Türkiye and Croatia.

The campaign targeted SMEs with the message: "Health and Safety is everyone's concern. It's good for you. It's good for businesses!'.

More information: OSHwiki

2007: Lighten the load (Musculoskeletal disorders)


Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), affecting the body’s muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments and nerves, are the biggest cause of absence from work in practically all of the EU Member States.

This campaign sought to promote an integrated management approach to this problem, emphasising the idea that employers, employees and government should work together to tackle MSDs.

It emphasised the concept of ‘managing the load’: considering not just the load being carried, for example, but all of the strains being put on the body by environmental factors, and the pace at which the task is carried out.

It also stressed the importance of managing the retention, rehabilitation and return to work of those who suffer, or have suffered, from MSDs.

More information: Musculoskeletal disorders 

2006: Safe start - Young workers


This campaign was dedicated to ensuring that young people have a safe and healthy start to their working lives.

Young people are particularly vulnerable in work environments, where there is often inadequate occupational safety and health provision for them.

Many of the accidents and health problems that affect young workers are preventable, however, and young people are receptive to information regarding workplace health and safety, and will act to protect themselves when they know about potential hazards.

This campaign involved promoting risk awareness among young people and employers in the workplace, and also in schools and colleges: trying to reach young people at an early age, to instil in them a culture of risk prevention.

More information: Young people

2005: Stop that noise!


It is not just workers in industries such as construction or manufacturing who are at risk.Noise can be a problem in many working environments, from factories to farms, call centres to concert halls.

This campaign focused on the issue of managing noise at work, with the tagline ‘Noise at work – it can cost you more than your hearing’.

More information: OSHwiki

2004: Building in safety


Construction is one of Europe’s largest industries.

Unfortunately, it also has one of the worst occupational safety and health records, a problem that costs businesses and tax payers billions of Euros each year, over and above the appalling human suffering that it causes.

This campaign was designed to helping all stakeholders in the industry to build a safer, healthier and more productive working environment.

More information: OSHwiki

2003: Dangerous substances - Handle with care


Across Europe, millions of employees are exposed to dangerous substances in their workplaces, and failure to control the associated risks can harm people’s health in many different ways.

European legislation sets out the obligations of employers to manage such risks, and a huge amount of guidance for employers and workers is available, but it needs to be acted on if it is to protect workers’ health.

A key aim of this campaign was to raise awareness of the risks, and to stimulate action to reduce the health risks of using dangerous substances.

More information: Dangerous substances

2002: Working on stress


Stress is responsible for millions of lost working days every year.

Far too many victims suffer in silence and too many companies do not realise the extent to which stress harms their business performance.

This campaign focused on the prevention and management of stress in the workplace.

More information: Stress

2001: Success is no accident


Every year thousands of people are killed in workplace accidents across the European Union, and there are millions of accidents that result in absences from work of more than three days.

The problem is particul!-arly acute in small and medium-sized enterprises.

This campaign focused on the prevention of work-related accidents.

More information: Themes

2000: Turn your back on musculoskeletal disorders


Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are one of the most common work-related ailments, affecting millions of European workers across all employment sectors, at a cost of billions of Euros to employers.

However, much of the problem could be prevented or reduced by following existing health and safety regulations and guidance on good practice.

The first of EU-OSHA’s campaigns focused on the effective management of the risks of MSDs.

More information: Musculoskeletal disorders

More information: Themes