The European Commission has followed on from its EU Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2007-2012, by publishing a new Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020, which aims to ensure that the EU continues to play a leading role in the promotion of high standards for working conditions both within Europe and internationally.
The results of the evaluation of the 2007-12 OSH strategy confirmed the value of an EU strategic framework for policy action in the field of OSH and highlighted the need to review objectives, priorities and working methods to adapt the EU policy framework to changing patterns of work, and new and emerging risks.
The new Strategic Framework identifies three major challenges:
This new Framework sets out concrete actions to address these challenges and thus to ensure healthier and safer working conditions across the EU.
For example, by building the capacity of national labour inspectors in order to improve effective enforcement of health and safety legislation.
The new Framework will help Member States to improve their national health and safety strategies by mutual learning and exchanges of good practices. It will also make it easier to compare the effectiveness of different Member States' strategies by better collection of health and safety statistics and developing improved monitoring tools.
The European Social Fund can play a key role to help Member States to improve their national health and safety at work policies.
For example, the ESF can help to finance the recruitment and return to work of people with chronic diseases and to develop measures to prevent workers' exposure to toxic substances at the workplace.
This Framework also points out that worker and employer representatives have a crucially important role to play in both developing new health and safety measures and ensuring their effective implementation in practice.
For more information, see:
