Focus

10 years on - The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

April 2006

Creating a safer and healthier working environment lies beyond the resources and expertise of a single Member State or institution. That's why the European Council set up in 1996 a European Agency for Safety and Health at Work: to bring together and share the region's vast reservoir of knowledge and information on occupational safety and health-related issues and prevention measures.

In the intervening 10 years, the Agency through its wide range of campaigning and information activities and with the active support of its many partners at both the European and national level has established itself as an important tripartite organisation in Europe's collective endeavour to establish a prevention culture in the workplace.

A number of initiatives are taking place to mark the Agency's 10th anniversary. A commemorative logo will brand all Agency publications, including an anniversary brochure, during the year. Key partners and stakeholders took part in a European forum on the eve of the annual meeting of the Governing Board on 20th March 2006.

10 years... 1 goal... 4 key steps:

Building the links
Europe's occupational safety and health (OSH) challenges are too complex and closely interwoven to be addressed by a single organisation or even a single country. That's why the Agency was established - to bring together the best information, insights and thinking in this field from around Europe and other parts of the world.
Virtually connected
As long ago as 1997, when we created our first website, the Agency recognised the value of the Internet for sharing, disseminating and cross-fertilising information and ideas. It is now a central plank of our strategy, supported by an award-winning website that provides an unusually rich source of OSH information in up to 20 languages.
Campaigns that reach out to Europe's workplaces
Through initiatives such as our annual European Week for Safety and Health at Work or the Healthy Workplace Initiative we directly communicate preventive information and advice to millions of employers and employees across Europe.
Anticipating change
Demographic changes as well as changes in work organisation, work process and production methods lead to new types of risks and demand new solutions. To help face this challenge, in 2005 the Agency set up a Risk Observatory. The observatory is expected to stimulate debate between the OSH community and policy makers, thus helping to shape future prevention measures.

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Gran Via 33, E-48009 Bilbao - Spain | Tel: + 34 94 479 4360 | Fax: + 34 94 479 4383 | Email: information@osha.eu.int | http://osha.europa.eu

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