July 27, 2001—The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has released a new publication highlighting the strategies that can be used to promote safe, healthy, and productive employment throughout Europe.
The publication is based on presentations given at a recent European workshop on the development of a new Community Strategy on Safety and Health at Work, which was jointly organized by the Agency, the Swedish Presidency, and the European Commission. Participants included key safety and health experts from the member states, the European Commission, and its affiliates.
Findings included:
- 47% work in painful or tiring positions
- 57% reported repetitive movements
- 37% are handling heavy loads
- 27% consider that their safety and health is at risk at work
- 60% think that their work affects their health.
Further, there seems to be a continuing intensification of work, such as high-speed work and tight deadlines, and temporary workers continue to report more adverse work situations than permanent employees.
Work-related health problems were cited as:
- Back pain (33%)
- Stress (28%)
- Muscular pains in neck and shoulders (23%)
- Burn-out (23%).
Construction was reported as the top risk sector, followed by agriculture, fishery, transport, and certain manufacturing industries, and there was a perceived need to focus on the service sector, especially health and social work. The entire report is available as a .pdf download from OSHA EU.
