EU Strategy on Safety and Health at Work

The new European Strategy will cover the period of 2007 to 2012 and pursue the positive trends of the previous Community Strategy 2002-2006 which is already bearing fruit. Over the period 2002-2004, the rate of fatal accidents at work in the EU-15 has fallen by 17% while the rate of workplace accidents leading to absences of more than three days has fallen by 20%.

As promoted in the previous Community strategy evaluation, a particular emphasis is placed on partnership at European and national levels to achieve good results in safety and health. 

Main challenges concerning health and safety at work

In spite of the progress achieved, the latest results of the fourth European survey of working conditions show that many workers in Europe continue to perceive that their jobs pose a threat to their health or safety:

• almost 28% of workers in Europe say that they suffer from non-accidental health problems which are or may be caused or exacerbated by their current or previous job;
• 35% of workers on average feel that their job puts their health at risk.

Moreover, occupational hazards are not being reduced in a uniform way:

• some categories of workers are still overexposed to occupational risks (young workers, workers whose jobs are insecure, older workers and migrant workers);
• certain types of companies are more vulnerable (SMEs, in particular, have fewer resources to put complex systems of worker protection in place, while some of them tend to be more affected by the negative impact of health and safety problems);
• certain sectors are still particularly dangerous (construction/civil engineering, agriculture, fishing, transport, health care and social services).

A number of challenges in the field of health and safety, which were identified during the previous reporting period, are continuing to grow in importance. These include:

• demographic change and the ageing of the working population;
• new employment trends, including the increase in self-employment, outsourcing and increased employment in SMEs;
• new and larger flows of migrants towards Europe.

The number of women at work is also continuing to increase – a fact which often goes hand in hand with the segregation of the sexes in the workplace. Better account must therefore be taken of those aspects of health and safety which specifically affect women.

Certain types of occupational illnesses becoming more common (musculo-skeletal disorders, infections and illnesses associated with psychological stress). The nature of occupational hazards is changing in tandem with the acceleration of innovation, the emergence of new risk factors (violence at work, including sexual and psychological harassment, and addictions) and the transformation of work patterns (working life is becoming more fragmented). These changes mean that a better understanding of the problem must be acquired by conducting specialised research in order to identify effective prevention measures.

Objectives of the Community strategy 2007-2012

The European Commission has set itself an ambitious overall objective: to reduce by 25% the total incidence rate of accidents at work per 100 000 workers in the EU 27 for the period 2007-2012.


In order to achieve this goal, the following main instruments are proposed:

1. guarantee the proper implementation of EU legislation;
2. support SMEs in the implementation of the legislation in force;
3. adapt the legal framework to changes in the workplace and simplify it, particularly in view of SMEs;
4. promote the development and implementation of national strategies;
5. encourage changes in the behaviour of workers and encourage their employers to adopt health-focused approaches;
6. finalise the methods for identifying and evaluating new potential risks;
7. improve the tracking of progress;
8. promote health and safety at international level. 

More about the new OSH Strategy 

• Improving quality and productivity at work: Community strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work (communication from the commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions)
• European Parliament resolution of 15 January 2008 on the Community strategy 2007–2012 on health and safety at work (Texts adopted by Parliament)