CYPRUS PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
B´ Semester of 2012
SUMMARY OF THE CONFERENCE
“Working together for the Future of Occupational Safety and Health in Europe”
Nicosia, 18/10/2012
The Conference was supported by the European Union Programme for Employment & Social Solidarity – PROGRESS (20072013)
Summary
Cyprus Presidency Conference on Occupational Safety and Health
“Working together for the future of occupational safety and health in Europe”
Nicosia, 18th October 2012
The Conference’s welcome address was delivered by Mr George Papageorgiou, Permanent
Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, Cyprus. Mr Papageorgiou cited the
priorities of the Cyprus Presidency on the social and employment policies and stressed the
importance of social dialogue in the implementation of the “Europe 2020” Strategy for achieving
smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. He stressed the close cooperation between employers and
employees in the field of social protection, especially the protection from work hazards, as the key
component to achieve high level goals in OSH. At a national level, health and safety issues must,
notwithstanding any adverse economic conditions, continue to be handled through honest and
constructive social dialogue between the social partners, a dialogue that brings together different
cultures and conflicting interests.
Mr Armindo Silva, of the European Commission (DG Employment), stated that the current EU OSH
Strategy, which will expire at the end of 2012, has served us well, with preliminary results of its
evaluation, currently underway, indicating that the strategic approach has indeed added value by
placing OSH high on national political agendas in member states. It has been a driver for the
development of MS’ national strategies on OSH. Following a public consultation early next year, the
Commission will be in a position to define and propose key objectives and priority actions for a new
Strategy for adoption in 2013. It is evident that against the current economic crisis in Europe, the
need to assess carefully the overall economic and social impact of OSH policy is of the utmost
importance. Mr. Silva expressed the need to provide European workers and businesses with a fit-forpurpose, and predictable regulatory framework, at the same time specifically mentioning the need to
focus more closely on the OSH needs of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
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In order to achieve this objective, Mr. Silva mentioned the need to invest more into evaluation and
shift the focus from the traditional angle of legal control and monitoring towards a truly ex post
evaluation of the social and economic impact of OSH legislation.
The proposed ambitious evaluation of all OSH Directives will take into account the ongoing concerns
regarding chemicals, environmental tobacco smoke and carcinogens, musculoskeletal disorders and
noted the contribution made by the social dialogue agreements. Finally the speaker mentioned that
the Commission is continuing to assess the Hairdressers agreement and will announce in 2013
whether it is deemed appropriate to be presented to the Council as a proposal for a Directive.
Ms Christa Sedlatschek, Director, EU-OSHA, presented an overview on the current state of OSH in
Europe. Taking into account the current economic crisis, demographic changes, new risks and
emerging sectors of work, Ms Sedlatschek elaborated on the need for a coherent approach to
occupational safety and health that is integrated into other policy areas. Utilizing the ESENER
survey, the speaker demonstrated that it is Europe’s smallest employers – those with less than 100
and especially those with less than 10 employees – that require the most support on OSH. They
need to be made aware of the hazards and risks faced by their workers and provided with accessible,
interactive tools to support their prevention activities.
Ms Sedlatschek highlighted the OSH aspects arising from issues such as older workers due to higher
retirement ages, the “gender dimension”, younger workers as well as the public perception of OSH in
Europe. Especially noted was the increased concern regarding job-related stress. Also mentioned
were psychosocial issues, along with musculoskeletal disorders.
The speaker concluded that there is a need for joined-up policy actions and on-going research in a
broad range of areas to ensure that those implementing OSH prevention in Europe’s workplaces are
suitably informed.
In the ensuing discussion, it was mentioned that 1 in 10 European workers are affected by
depression, this keeping them away from their workplace for an estimated 36 days per year. At the
same time, 36% of managers questioned, stated that they had difficulties dealing with the issue. The
insurance industry representative stated the need for this sector to be actively involved in OSH
prevention, specifically mentioning the retirement age of workers.
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Responding to further questions the Director of OSHA stressed that research priorities regarding
OSH in micro enterprises constitutes a major task for the Agency and mentioned the OiRA tool as a
useful resource for advancing OSH in micro enterprises. Regarding a question on emerging risks
and specifically on the synergistic effects of chemical, Ms Sedlatschek mentioned the Agency’s close
cooperation with ECHA regarding REACH and CLP, the inclusion of OSH issues, the preparation of
relevant literature such as leaflets as well as the Agency’s new strategy which will include dangerous
substances.
In her presentations on the London 2012 Olympic Project, Ms Melodie Gilbert, Head of Ill Health
Prevention, Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) focussed on the OSH priorities given to correct
planning, the creation of leadership teams and adherence to minimum OSH standards. Additionally
Ms Gilbert talked about concepts such as “health like safety” to bring the issues of occupational
health closer to workers and to achieve extraordinary overall OSH performance on the whole project.
Finally, the learning legacy from London 2012 experience will help on future major events / projects
achieve similar high OSH levels.
Mr Stephen Williams, Director, Operational Strategy and London 2012 Games, HSE UK, elaborated
on the work carried out by the HSE, in its role as national H & S Regulator for the London 2012
Games. HSE worked from the start with key duty holders to ensure H & S is built into the project
throughout its phases of development. The Executive acted as an enabler of good practice, identified
problems before they arose and took action to prevent them. This was achieved by working closely
with the ODA and the London Organising Committee of the 2012 Olympic Games (LOCOG),
publishing intervention plans, providing early advice and input to ensure key risks were identified and
appropriate controls were put in place. The HSE has focused its efforts around the core agenda of
leadership and competence in OSH, with clearly defined roles, responsibilities and management of
contractors involved with the project.
Finally, the HSE shared with the ODA an aim to ensure a strong H & S legacy and set up a series of
research projects to capture good practice and lessons learned from the construction project.
Relevant HSE reports which have already been published include leadership and worker
involvement, Occupational health, Safety Climate tool.
During the Question and Answer session which followed, the HSE representative was asked how the
lessons learned from the 2012 London Olympics were utilized by the Regulator in the rest of the
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country. Mr Williams explained that both internal training of Inspectors in the HSE followed, as well as
training for the construction industry and to industry more widely. He noted that many OSH initiatives
adopted on the Olympic project were not costly or complicated, and were potentially transferable to
other construction projects. He also mentioned the publication of short case studies to demonstrate
OSH solutions as well as numerous Research Reports in cooperation with the ODA.
Regarding a question on HSE costs on the Olympic project, Mr Williams noted that only existing HSE
resources were used on the project, approximately 5 staff members for a period of 4 to 5 years. A
report regarding cost-benefit analysis of the project will be published in due time.
Finally, regarding a question on skill development to be an effective Regulator, Mr Williams
mentioned attributes such as sensible inspections focussing on the genuine risks, competent and
well informed Inspectors knowing when to exercise discretion and carrying on an active campaign of
challenging health and safety myths, in cases where there are not any real OSH issues in
workplaces. Mr Williams concluded that the enabling regulator can implement OSH legislation and
bring about OSH benefits to the workplace at the same time.
There followed a presentation by Mr Kris de Meester, of Business Europe, entitled “A prevention
policy based on leadership as key to successful businesses“. Mr de Meester analysed the benefits of
good OSH and its positive impact on businesses’ success. He went on to demonstrate how good
leadership is instrumental in achieving improved OSH levels in businesses and especially the
importance of the participation of all workers. He concluded that both employees and managers need
to exploit all possible opportunities to excel in the area of prevention of occupational health and
safety risks.
Mr Laurent Vogel, ETUI, emphasised the links between Safety Representatives and effective OSH
policies in companies, adding that studies show that an individual non-unionised worker can have
little success as regards consultation on OSH. He said that the new Strategy should include an
objective that all workers should have access to a Safety Representative (adding that different
models are possible). He expressed his concerns regarding the new European Strategy and felt that
there is a crisis in EU social policy; there is a need to find solutions.
Dr George Boustras, Professor, European University Cyprus, presented the results of a survey on
health and safety in micro enterprises in Cyprus, showing that most of the employers in possession
of a written risk assessment felt obliged ethically to have this and were likely to have a better safety
performance; that employers and workers viewed worker participation from different perspectives.
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Also, the survey indicated that labour inspectors and suppliers are the main sources of information on
OSH for micro enterprises. The results supported published ESENER results. It was evident that
even in micro-firms, safety performance has a positive and statistically significant correlation with the
existence of a safety policy in the firm, as stated by the owners/managers of firms. Safety
performance is also strongly related to the written risk assessment for new equipment, to safety
training, to organizational commitment, as well as to workers’ participation in OSH.
Mr Silva commented that the results supported the conclusions from the current survey on
documented risk assessment, underlining the relatively low level of compliance with this requirement.
Mr Antonio Cammarota, of the European Commission, summarised the emerging results of the
evaluation of the current Strategy, illustrating that the Strategy had been successful in MS where
OSH systems were well developed and had acted as a driver for the development of national
strategies. On the negative side, the needs of SMEs had not been sufficiently met and there had
been insufficient coordination with other policy areas. As regards future strategy, forward planning is
needed, covering a range of policy perspectives.
Mr Marios Charalambous, Department of Labour Inspection (DLI), Cyprus, made a presentation on
the application of the Online Interactive Risk Assessment Tool (OiRA) in the Public Service in
Cyprus. The DLI considers the tool as key to promoting the organization and management of safety
and health issues within the Cyprus Public Service. Mr Charalambous demonstrated step-by-step the
particular areas covered by the OiRA tool leading to an automated OSH report. Finally he said that
the DLI has embraced the OiRA tool since this will enable businesses to be more aware of the OSH
risks they are faced with and provide them with practical support in assessing the risks. Moreover, he
added that it will help bring about a reduction in occupational accidents and diseases and improve
working conditions and, ultimately, the tool will be used widely, in various fields of economic activity,
via social dialogue.
Mr Reinhard Schneider, German Leather Federation (VDL), outlined the development of the OIRA
tool in the leather and tanning industry at European level. He covered the various steps involved in
using the tool in this sector. He noted that most leather and tanning companies are SMEs with higher
than average risks to workers since low grade automation is used, alongside heavy machinery and
chemicals. Mr Schneider mentioned the work of the National Social Partners in disseminating the tool
among members, as well as collecting comments and suggestions and preparations for a revision of
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the OiRA tool. He acknowledged that the language problem is hindering dissemination to companies
in several EU countries.
In the ensuing panel discussion, coordinated by Ms Sedlatschek, speakers were invited to provide
viewpoints on four OSH topics.
Regarding Q.1, on “how to get the message across that management leadership in OSH and
worker participation together are the key to highly effective prevention”, the Representative of
Cyprus Employees´ Organisations , Sotiris Fellas stated that regarding Safety and Health issues at
Work, there is not any room for significantly different opinions of the workers’ and employers’
organizations. In case of small businesses, it is a fact that they do approach health and safety issues
differently. Due to lack of training, they tend to consider OSH as an additional cost to the company,
instead of recognizing that OSH improvements bring about productivity gains and, in the long run,
decrease costs for a company.
Mr. Fellas went on to say that his union stands ready to help businesses minimize accidents, by
cooperating with the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance and the employers’ organizations to
provide businesses with more safety information, training, seminars, online tools to assess risks as
well as help the SMEs to increase cooperation with their employees. He mentioned problems with
the safety committees, since some employers consider these to be a burden; this puts committee
members under pressure to comply with the employer’s position. Mr. Fellas made a suggestion to
amend relevant OSH legislation to allow trade union representatives to participate in safety
committee meetings. Such measures can help the OSH culture in SMEs.
Regarding the 2nd Question, on “how to get the SMEs practically to improve their OSH
performance”, Mr. Michalis Antoniou, representing the Cyprus Employers´ Organisations, stated
that in OSH issues, not many things separate employers, from employees’ interests. The Cyprus
Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB) has developed OSH strategies in cooperation with the
Department of Labour Inspection. He noted that in small businesses, even the owner is a worker, so
he is in effect exposed to the same risks to his H & S, to which his employees are exposed. As a
result, OEB is working to find answers on how to move forward with OSH issues. On many
occasions, the legislative framework is not easy to comprehend and to enforce, especially with
regards to small business.
Acknowledging the on-going effort for the preparation of Codes of
Practice in simple language to aid H& S legislation enforcement, Mr. Antoniou, mentioned that H & S
culture must be given by example and this is best done by starting early in the school curricula. This
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will help shape students’ attitudes towards H & S from a young age, ensuring this attitude is
eventually carried into the workplace.
The tripartite cooperation in Cyprus continues to be strong and as a result, worker participation in
safety committees is strengthening. Nevertheless, the functioning of these committees in workplaces
needs to be enhanced. Following Cyprus’ accession to the EU, OEB has intensified efforts by
founding OSH services, providing Risk Assessment guidance to employers in order to minimize
costs, especially for small businesses, and generally working to enhance OSH performance for
enterprises.
Ms Sedlatschek noted that both the above speakers mentioned government and the need to simplify
OSH legislation.
Regarding the 3rd question, “Legislation is still the key driver for action for businesses when it
comes to OSH, but what are the other drivers”, Dr S. Bristow (HSE,UK) stated that governments
have a vital role to support SMEs, and not just on OSH issues. Since small firms are the backbone
of the economy, government must help them overcome the current economic crisis. Dr. Bristow went
on to say that simplifying the application of the legislation – by making guidance which is easy to
follow by the employers of small firms is the key. Such guidance may be produced by trade
associations, national institutes, etc. We must strive to make compliance with the legislation easy.
Since a lot of safety should be simple, good leadership is needed, this being one component.
Additionally, proper participation by workers is needed. Governments have a role in supporting this,
for example in the UK joint OSH training of employers and employees (safety representatives) is
encouraged. Governments must stimulate safety committees. Finally, Dr Bristow argued that the
ethical case provides the driver for managers to do the right thing – take the lead in OSH and for
employees to join in, thus developing an OSH culture in the enterprise.
Finally, regarding the 4th and last question on “priority topics for the next European Strategy”,
Mr C. Constantinou (European Commission) elaborated on the role of the Commission explaining
that the current system is well developed for large companies and not for small companies (under
100 employees).
Since the role of SMEs is key, the simplification of the application of OSH
legislation is important. A link is needed between the needs of different types of enterprises and
good regulation. MS’ competent authorities must develop this link by finding smart ways to make life
easier for SMEs. Looking at the OiRA tool which started at high level is a good example, since the
tool can now be used Europe wide in various sectors of economic activity. It is therefore evident that
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competent authorities, federations and other partners must work together in developing specific
guidance to reach the workers themselves in the various workplaces in a form and manner which is
useful for the workers.
Mr. Constantinou concluded with the following thoughts on what the next strategy needs to contain1) The SMEs are one of the key areas the new strategy should focus on. The need is to move
away from specifying decreasing numbers of accidents and instead focus on health
(psychosocial, new and emerging risks) and effective implementation on SMEs.
2) More effective implementation of the legislation
3) Making the workplaces more sustainable, taking into account the aging population of Europe
4) Finally, the strategy has to have a focused approach.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR INSPECTION
(The information contained in this summary does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the
European Commission)
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