Bilbao-based European Agency for Safety and Health at Work holds conference to mark their tenth anniversary and discuss challenges for the safety and health in Europe's 21 million workplaces
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work was set up by the European Union in 1996 to help meet the information needs in the field of occupational safety and health.
"In a global economy occupational safety and health issues cross national borders and can only be tackled successfully through close cooperation between member states", explains Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, the agency's director.
"The agency has set up a unique OSH network in all EU countries and beyond through which we actively promote safer jobs, healthier people and stronger businesses".
Commenting on the tenth anniversary of the network, president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said: "Safety and health at work represents today one of the principal and most developed areas of EU social policy.
"However, Community action in this field is not limited to legislation.
"The Commission has extended its activities, in cooperation with the Bilbao Agency, to enhance the flow of information, promotion and advice in order to achieve a healthy working environment, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises".
The agency and its network run one of the largest OSH portals in the world, with more than 1,030,000 pages on issues raging from accidents at work to occupational stress or avian flue.
Every year the agency organises Europe's largest OSH awareness campaign, European Week, and publishes more than four million publications and campaign material in up to 20 languages.
"Although over the past ten years we have seen a steady improvement in safety and health at work in Europe, there is more than plenty of work for the next decade", concludes Konkolewsky.
"In the EU, lost working days resulting from work-related health problems or accidents amount to 550 million every year, not to mention the immeasurable human cost and suffering caused by serious health damage."
