Editorial
SLIC Campaign on psychosocial risks at work in 2012
March 2012
Sheila Pantry OBE
A joint inspection campaign on psychosocial risks will take place in the EU-Member States during 2012. The Committee of Senior Labour Inspectors (SLIC) agreed in May 2010 to develop a campaign on psychosocial risks for delivery in 2012. Sweden was to lead the project of planning the campaign with assistance of a Working Group. The aim of the project is "Development of an inspection toolkit for targeted interventions on occupational health and safety (psycho-social risks)".
The planning of the campaign on EU-level was made during 2011. The Working Group consisted of representatives of 12 Member States and has met three times in Luxembourg. The Working Group has agreed on target groups, materials and methods for the campaign. National project leaders have been appointed and been trained, as well as the leading responsible persons, during a two day workshop in Luxembourg.
During 2012 the campaign will take place in the Member States and will primarily concentrate on the following sectors:
- The health sector, incl. social care (private and public)
- The service sector, e.g. hotels and restaurants
- The transport sector.
A toolkit for inspection of psychosocial risks has been developed and consists of:
- Guide for labour inspectors
- Psychosocial Risk Assessments, a flyer
- Psychosocial risks at work, Background
- Tools for Inspection of Psychosocial Risks at Work
- Guidance - inspection of psychosocial risks at work
- Work aid/interview guide for evaluating risk assessments with regard to psychological stress - Germany
- Guidance tool for hospitals - Denmark
- Guidance tool for hotels and restaurants - Denmark
- Guidance tool for the transport of goods - Denmark
- Questionnaire - Finland
- Checklist - Stress at work - The Agency for Safety and Health at Work
The toolkit has been translated to all EU languages
It is up to each member state to plan and perform the national campaigns in 2012. If needed, Sweden will support the National Project Leaders concerning use of the tools and the reporting. After the campaign, the results and conclusions will be reported and a Final Conference will take place in Sweden in March 2013.
See Inspection campaign toolkit in 22 languages: www.av.se/slic2012/toolkit.aspx
March 2012 OSHWORLD FOCUS looks at Work-life balance: have you got it right?
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Don't work harder - work smarter! Be ahead of the game.
Are you hoping to have a zero accident, incident-free and healthy record this year in your workplace? Some would argue that this is not possible! But keep on trying!
And do continue to make plans for your campaigns for 2012 and beyond!