The European Information System for Occupational Safety and Health, EISOSH

摘要

In European union member states occur every year over 4.9 millions industrial accidents causing more than three days absence from work. 6500 are fatal accidents. In European countries the annual incidence of occupational diseases is 2.8-4.7 million cases of which about 30-40 % may lead to chronic diseases, about 10 % to permanent work disability and about 0.5 - 1 % to death. The variation between countries is great. Occupational health is an important strategy not only to ensure the health of workers, but also to contribute positively to productivity, quality of products, work motivations, job satisfaction and thereby to the overall quality of life of individuals and society. During the past decade, a number of new regulations regarding occupational safety and health have been passed on the European level. They are aimed at improving health and safety conditions at the workplaces by requiring employers to carry out risk assessments and define appropriate organisational or technical measures to reduce risks and by specifying requirements for the design of safe products. Consideration of a variety of documents and expert knowledge in various areas is required when authorities and companies apply the regulations. This may be extremely time-consuming, especially for small and medium-sized companies.