Need to maintain a healthy workplace

More than 200 safety and health experts from around the world attended the 2011 European Summit on Safe Maintenance in Bilbao. IP&E has a round-up of events

The November summit marked the climax of the 2010-11 Healthy Workplaces Campaign on Safe Maintenance organised by the European Agency for Safety and Health (EU-OSHA). It drew politicians and experts from a variety of fields including László Andor, the EU's Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and Dr Christa Sedlatschek, EU-OSHA director.

Opening statements László Andor told the summit that EU-OSHA's campaigns play an essential role in making Europe's occupational health and safety strategy a reality on the ground. He pointed out that this is especially important in the current economic climate where many Europeans are facing an increased workload and organisations try to do more with less: "The Healthy Workplaces Campaign is a chance to get the message across that, even in difficult times, the safety of workers cannot be compromised and must remain a top priority. The fiscal constraints and difficult labour market situation in many countries must not obscure the bigger truth that a safe and healthy workplace is good for business." Dr Christa Sedlatschek highlighted the role of the Agency in propagating the safe maintenance message: 'Through our Healthy Workplaces Campaign we reached out to millions of European workers, in their own workplaces, and in their own languages. I am confident that, through this campaign, we have helped to prevent significant numbers of people being hurt at work in Europe.' Since its launch in April 2010, the Healthy Workplaces Campaign on Safe Maintenance has mobilised thousands of people through awareness raising activities, partnership meetings, and information sessions.

Campaign highlights Andrew Smith, head of the EU-OSHA Communication and Promotion Unit, and Wioleta Klimaszweska, representative of EUOSHA's network of national focal points, summarised the overall highlights of the campaign. Smith paid tribute to EU-OSHA's network of partners and highlighted the role of the European Good Practice Awards for raising standards across the EU and beyond. He also said that the Healthy Workplaces Film Award and photo competition had helped highlight important issues.

Klimaszewska drew attention to the 38 national partnership meetings and 131 stakeholder seminars and training events with more than 11,000 active participants, and 75 national news releases that the national focal points organised during the campaign in partnership with EU-OSHA.

Judith Kirton-Darling, of the European Trades Union Confederation (ETUC), told the conference that 25% of Europe's workers still believe that their work puts their health at risk. To counter this, Alexander Stuber, of the European Federation of National Maintenance Societies (EFNMS), detailed how its 12,000 members in 22 countries had worked on the campaign.

For example, member societies in Spain held seminars in maintenance risk assessment, Greek members produced a widely-distributed video, and societies in France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands held workshops and meetings.

As a result of the campaign, Stuber said, more than 90% of its members had appointed a safety, health and environment officer, and 55% had started new initiatives in safe maintenance.

The final wave of EU-OSHA's campaign partners received their official participation certificates at the conference and were joined by many of the other 53 partners who had received their certificates in the first year of the campaign.

Workshops The summit featured a series of workshops where delegates could hear best-practice advice from experts in their field. Jukka Takala, former EU-OSHA Director, speaker at the workshop on 'Safe Maintenance and Risk Assessment', told the conference that risk assessments should include contractors and sub-contractors rather than focusing solely on regular workers.

The aim of the workshop was to point out the specific challenges of risk assessment in maintenance and to discuss the possibilities to integrate the maintenance aspect into the Online interactive Risk Assessment Tool (OiRA) as a legacy of the campaign on Safe Maintenance.

Dr Danuta Koradecka, speaking at the workshop on 'Good Practices in Safe Maintenance', told delegates that good safety and health relied on many interlocking features. Chief among these is an overarching safety-orientated culture within the organisation. Other crucial factors include well conducted risk assessments, safe work procedures with clear guidelines, and maintenance work should be incorporated into established OSH schemes.Management commitment to safety and health with active worker participation is crucial.

Online risk assessment There was great interest in EU-OSHA's new software tool generator for Online interactive Risk Assessment (OiRA). The easy to use and cost-free web application helps small and micro organisations put in place a thorough step-by-step risk assessment process - from the evaluation of workplace risks, decision making on preventive actions, through to monitoring and reporting.

Risk awareness EU-OSHA's next Healthy Workplaces Campaign - Working Together for Risk Prevention - will focus on galvanising the support of employers, employees, their representatives, the supply chain and other stakeholders, to work together to reduce risks in the workplace. Smaller enterprises will be particularly welcome to take part.