Brussels – The European Union has released its strategic plan to identify and address workplace hazards on most of the continent for the rest of the decade.
Issued by the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020 lists major workplace safety and health challenges and outlines actions for addressing them.
The EU works with member states to help ensure a safe work environment for about 217 million European workers. Each year, more than 4,000 workers are killed, and 3 million are injured, on the job, according to the EU.
The framework was designed to fall in line with the previously released Europe 2020 Strategy, which outlines the EU’s economic growth plan.
“Risk prevention and the promotion of safer and healthier conditions in the workplace are key not just to improving job quality and working conditions, but also to promoting competitiveness,” the framework states. “Keeping workers healthy has a direct and measureable positive impact on productivity, and contributes to improving the sustainability of social security systems.”
