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