The aim of this blog is to bring you news about developments in occupational safety and health across the EU and beyond, and also about EU-OSHA initiatives and activities to fulfill our mission.
We are one of the smallest EU agencies and cannot promise to reply to every comment, but we will read them and bear them in mind to shape our future work. The blog content is available only in English.
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Within the context of the EC funded IPA Action 2020-2022, on 19 October 2021, EU OSHA was invited to attend at the Healthy Workplaces Campaign conference hosted by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs of Serbia. The conference was chaired by the Minister of Labour and had the purpose of raising awareness on health and safety at work, also through awarding the best labour inspectors for their OSH work.
Key OSH key actors, such as the acting directors of the OSH Directorate and of the Labour Inspectorate as well as several labour inspectors took part to the event.
EU OSHA presented the aim and contents of the Healthy Workplaces Campaign 2020-2022 "Lighten the Load" and shared the latest knowledge on Musculoskeletal Disorders related to sedentary work, focusing in particular on the health risks deriving from prolonged sitting, on strategies to decrease the risks as well as on concrete remedies and tips to reduce sitting and related MSD risks.
The conference ended with the OSH Good Practice 2021 award ceremony, were two local companies were awarded for having implemented the best OSH practice in Serbia.
On 4 November 2021, within the framework of the European Week for Safety and Health at Work 2021, the Minister of Labor and Social Policy and the President of the National OSH Council of North Macedonia awarded the three best companies implementing the "Best OSH Practice 2021".
During the awards ceremony, it was emphasized that the main objective of the competition is to contribute to the promotion of the OSH culture among companies in line with the EU standards and best practice.
The Minister concluded the awarding ceremony by highlighting the ongoing Healthy Workplaces Campaign – “Lighten the load” of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, focusing on the prevention and management of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and which was made possible in North Macedonia thanks to the support from the EC funded IPA Action 2020-2022, as one of the most common work related health problems suffered by workers in Europe.
Agriculture and forestry have one of the highest accident rates in Europe, with a high level of hazards affecting the sustainability and viability of the sectors.
Pesticide-related risks, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), skin cancer, and stress and psychosocial issues are all significant emerging risks in the sector that have not been adequately managed or underestimated due to a lack of accurate data over the years.
Our publications on the future of agriculture and forestry explore the sector's main safety challenges and take a closer look at the OSH risks affecting farmers and foresters.
Within the context of the IPA Action 2020-2022 financed by the European Commission, EU-OSHA made available the publications in Albanian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Montenegrin and Serbian languages.
Summary - The future of agriculture and forestry: implications for managing worker safety and health
Agriculture and forestry: a sector with serious occupational safety and health challenges
Within the framework of the EC funded IPA Action 2020-2022, on 22 June EU-OSHA held the third informal webinar for the IPA Focal Points (Western Balkans and Türkiye) on the topic of occupational safety and health (OSH) and telework during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The webinar aimed to share knowledge and the EU best practice, as well as EU-OSHA’s publication Teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic: risks and prevention strategies on the main drivers of teleworking and the associated OSH risks, beneÕts and challenges arising for workers and organisations during the pandemic.
EU-OSHA, Latvian Focal Point and a representative from the University of Skopje (North Macedonia) delivered presentations on the risks of teleworking, including physical and psychosocial harm for workers. There was also a discussion on the challenges relating to risk assessment of teleworkers.
More information about the IPA Programme
Within the context of the EC funded IPA Action 2020-2022, EU-OSHA supports IPA beneficiaries in mirroring the Healthy Workplaces Campaign 2020-2022 “Lighten the Load” at national level to raise awareness of Occupational Safety and Health and of the EU-OSHA role.
EU OSHA translated the Healthy Workplaces Campaign materials (guides, leaflets, flyers and posters) to the beneficiaries' languages and provided them with printouts for national distribution to social partners, OSH stakeholders and the public.
Discover the Healthy Workplaces Campaign resources translated in your language.
On 28 April 2021, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the National OSH of North Macedonia organised an online workshop celebrating the annual World Day for Safety and Health at Work.
The Minister of Labour and Social Policy opened the event that saw the participation of the President of the National OSH Council, the Director of the SLI, the National ILO coordinator, and the presidents of the two representative social partners' organizations (Trade Unions and Employers).
This online workshop had also the purpose of enhancing the importance of investing in strong and Fexible OSH systems at all levels to respond to possible crisis situations in the future, such as the current pandemic.
Following the inclusion of North Macedonia to the EC funded IPA Action 2020-2022, Mr. Darko Docinski - EU-OSHA's focal point representative and Deputy Head of the Labour Law and Employment Policy Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy - was able to close the event outlining the Healthy Workplaces Campaign "Lighten the Load" and presenting the new Napo video on musculoskeletal disorders.
Within the context of the EC funded IPA Action 2020-2022, EU-OSHA organised the second webinar for the IPA Focal points (Western Balkans Countries and Türkiye) on the topic of occupational safety and health (OSH) in agriculture.
The idea of this webinar was to exchange knowledge on OSH in agriculture between EU-OSHA and the IPA beneficiaries to respectively introduce the latest EU OSH knowledge and project outcomes, and in particular to present the "Review of the future of agriculture and occupational safety and health (OSH)", and to better understand the state of play at a national level on this topic. A representative from the Slovenian forestry institute and agriculture extension service shared with the participants the Slovenian experience.
The event started with an opening speech by Christa Sedlatschek, Executive Director of EU-OSHA. It brought together representatives from six IPA beneficiaries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye), representatives of the regional International Labour Organization offices, EU Delegations and the South-East Europe Network on Workers' Health.
Within the EC funded IPA Action 2020-2022, EU-OSHA organised an on-line seminar for the IPA beneficiaries on the topic of COVID-19 to raise awareness of the recent EU-OSHA publication "COVID-19: Back to the workplace - Adapting workplaces and protecting workers" as well as to share the latest OSH kowledge on the best practice to prevent workers from the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the risk of ill-health in workplaces.
The webinar had the aim to maintain OSH information and communication exchange between EU-OSHA and the beneficiaries as at the moment it is not possible for the EU Agency either to organise field visits to beneficiaries or for the beneficiaries to organise missions to EU Member States.
The Executive Director of EU-OSHA, Christa Sedlatschek opened the webinar and welcomed all participants before EU-OSHA presenting the contents of the Guide. All IPA representatives shared their current practices and difficulties in tackling the new health situation and had the possibility to raise questions and obtain specific recommendations and advice from the Agency.
Marking the European Week for Safety and Health at Work 2020 and the launch of the Healthy Workplaces Lighten the Load Campaign in the Republic of North Macedonia - made possible by the EC funded IPA Action 2020-2022, the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Mrs. Jagoda Shahpaska, awards the three best-ranked companies in Macedonia within the framework of this year's "National Award for Companies with Best Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Practices." This contest is organised every year by the National Council for Safety and Health at Work with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the EU-OSHA national focal point of North Macedonia.
During the award ceremony, Minister Shahpaska emphasized the importance of creating and implementing occupational safety and health policies and strengthening prevention culture as areas of particular importance. Especially in these difficult COVID-19 pandemic times.
The winners of this year's National Award for Company with Best OSH Practice competition are GD Granit AD - a civil construction company, Mlekara AD - producers of milk and dairy products, and Makstil AD - a company specialized in steel plates production.
In the occasion of the European Week for Safety and Health at Work and thanks to the support provided through the EC funded IPA Action 2020-2022, the Directorate General of Occupational Safety and Health of Türkiye organised an online workshop to launch the Healthy Workplaces Lighten the Load Campaign and present its main topics as well as to raise awareness on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).
The workshop, broadcasted live on 22nd October, involved many different national experts in occupational safety and health (OSH) in general and MSDs prevention and physiotherapy in particular.
Watch OSH - European week event session 1 (in Turkish language)
Watch OSH - European week event session 2 (in Turkish language)
Access the video on exercises to prevent MSDs (in Turkish language)