Health & Safety Update (March 2010)

New and Emerging Risks in Occupational Safety and Health

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has issued a publication which gives an overview of the present and future trends expected in relation to occupational health, the main workplace risks and their prevention.

The occupational safety and health of the EU workforce is affected by several factors. The changing demographic structure, the spread of new technologies and a reduction in the importance of economic sectors that previously dominated, such as industry and mining are changing the face of occupational health and safety. There are changes not only in the numbers of jobs in each sector, but also the types of jobs that are available. The age profile of the workforce is also changing. New technologies are creating new categories of employment. Globalisation means that health and safety risks are easily spread around the world in a short period of time.

There are a number of interesting topics covered, including exposure to noise and hearing impairment, occupational diseases and workplace accidents. Nanotechnology – working with known chemical substances but in a very small particle size is also covered.

The full publication is available at:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/outlook/en_te8108475enc.pdf