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Reducing work-related accidents

Jul 7, 2008 | Associated Press | EU Affairs

Every year 5,720 people die in the European Union as a consequence of work-related accidents, according to Eurostat figures. Besides that, the International Labour Organisation estimates that an additional 159,500 workers in the EU die every year from occupational diseases.

Taking both figures into consideration, it is estimated that every three-and-a-half minutes somebody in the EU dies from work-related causes. Most of these accidents and diseases are preventable, and the first step in preventing them is risk assessment.

That is the message of Healthy Workplaces. Good for you. Good for business, the Europe-wide information campaign on risk assessment, launched by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).

The campaign focuses especially on high-risk sectors such as construction, healthcare and agriculture, and on the needs of small- and medium-sized enterprises. It will run over two years - this year and next year.

Under EU law, all employers in the EU are required to carry out risk assessments. Risk assessment helps employers understand the action they need to take to improve workplace health and safety.

Work-related illness and accidents should be cut by a quarter across the EU under a new five-year strategy for health and safety at work, adopted by the Commission yesterday. It follows a 17 per cent reduction in fatal accidents from 2002-2004 and a 20 per cent fall in accidents leading to absence from work of three days or more.

But progress remains uneven across different countries, sectors, companies and categories of workers. Changes in working life are leading to new occupational risks, while certain workplace illnesses are on the rise.

"Occupational illness and accidents at work are a heavy burden on both workers and employers in Europe. Every year there are four million accidents at work which represent enormous economic costs for the European economy. A considerable share of these costs falls upon social security systems and public finances," said Vladimír Špidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

Despite major advances over the past five years, there is still considerable room for improvement.