July 18, 2005—The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work recently released its 2004 annual report summarizing the Agency’s activities in a year that saw the EU’s membership grow from 15 to 25 Member States.
The Agency capitalized on the growth in membership by intensifying its pan-European programs, including the European Week 2004 on construction. The campaign culminated in bringing together top representative bodies in Europe’s EUR 900 billion construction industry and of the Dutch EU presidency to sign a landmark declaration committing its signatories to improve the industry’s safety and health standards.
Other 2004 highlights include:
- SME Funding Scheme promoting health and safety in European small and medium-sized companies—an independent evaluation last year showed the recent scheme reached more than 700,000 SMEs.
- Exploring the commercial value of occupational safety and health—with a new report and a working paper the Agency pinpointed criteria for commercially productive CSR strategy and a strong link between higher OSH standards and higher productivity.
- Devising an enlargement action plan for 2005-2006 with two main thrusts: mass information campaign in the new Member States and knowledge transfer adapting SME Funding Schemes’ expertise to new Member States’ individual circumstances.
- Focusing on high-risk sectors, with new fact sheets published on violence and other hazards in education sector, and special web features developed for the construction and fishing industries.
- Addressing the issues of disability and gender with the help of new information materials, a dedicated web feature and a seminar.
- Mainstreaming OSH into education—a report analyzing 32 initiatives across Europe described how to successfully integrate OSH into school and university curricula.
- Monitoring tomorrow’s risks by collecting and analyzing the data required to launch a Risk Observatory in 2005.
In 2004, the Agency produced and distributed more than 4 million copies of publications in up to 20 languages. The number of visitors on the Agency’s Web site doubled to nearly 3 million.
