Summary and implications

The European Commission has announced a new Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014–2020 (the Framework) which has the aim of ensuring that the EU remains at the forefront of encouraging high standards for working conditions worldwide.

The Framework has been produced in line with the Europe 2020 strategy which is the EU's 10-year growth strategy. The strategy has been produced with five key objectives which cover employment, research and development, climate and energy, education and social inclusion and poverty reduction.

The Framework identifies three major health and safety at work challenges:

  • To improve the enforcement by Member States.
  • To improve the implementation of existing health and safety rules.
  • To deal with the issues raised by an ageing EU workforce.

The European Commission has produced communication on this issue to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions. 

This communication outlines seven key strategic objectives, which cover a broad range of actions to be implemented or addressed further. The objectives are as follows:

  • Further consolidating national strategies, which will involve policy coordination, mutual learning and the use of EU funding. There will be action points implemented from 2014.
  • Enabling compliance with health and safety legislation in particular by micro and small enterprises.
  • Improving the prevention of work-related diseases which involves addressing new risks which have come to the forefront without overlooking those that already exist.
  • Simplifying existing legislation and elimination of unnecessary administrative burdens which ensures a more effective system.
  • Addressing the ageing of the workforce and improving the prevention of work-related and occupational diseases. There is a pilot project which is aimed at older workers and will identify ways to promote the physical and psychological health of those workers.
  • Developing the information base in order to improve the collection of reliable and comparable statistical data.
  • Improving coordination between the EU and international efforts including the World Health Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In his press conference in Brussels on 6 June 2014, Laszlo Andor, the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, said he was "convinced that this new health and safety framework will bring significant improvements to people's working conditions, to the benefit of European workers and companies, and the European economy as a whole." We will have to wait and see whether this is the case.

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