Implementation of the strategic framework for health and safety at work.

June 2021, the European Commission adopted the European Union's (EU) strategic framework for health and safety at work. For the period between 2021 and 2027, it set out the key priorities and measures for improving the health and safety of employees. More than three years after its publication, it is time to take stock at the halfway mark.

The Commission had set itself seventeen primary objectives. More than half of these are currently being implemented or have been implemented as planned. For example, the development of a guideline for labour inspectors in the area of risk assessment of the Biological Agents Directive or the update of the Commission's recommendation on occupational diseases to include COVID-19 as a disease. Both were adopted in 2022. The campaigns of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) are also progressing. There is active participation in the 2023-25 campaign on jobs in times of digitalisation.

Focus on mental health

Planning has also already begun for the EU-OSHA campaign to be launched in 2026 on psychosocial risks and mental health in the workplace. The European Commission is also working on a peer review of Member States' legislative and enforcement policies for dealing with psychosocial risks in the workplace. Results are awaited. Cooperation with the social partners on the subject of mental health in the workplace is also making slow progress. Following the unsuccessful negotiations of social partners to update their framework agreement on teleworking, the European Commission launched a formal consultation on teleworking and the right to disconnect in spring 2024. The consultation of the social partners has not yet been finalised.

On the way to secure jobs

Although the "Vision Zero" approach plays a major role in the prevention of work-related fatalities in the EU, the implementation of the measures from the strategic framework does not yet appear to have progressed. Although a working group has been set up, no specific information measures or awareness-raising tools have been implemented. The situation is similar when it comes to revising the legal framework for occupational health and safety. This is because proposals for changes that take account of the digital transformation were not submitted for either the Workplace Directive or the Directive on Working with Display Screen Equipment until 2023. The European Commission still has just over three years to implement the pending measures. Progress is also being made in the area of limit setting. Amendments to cobalt and four other substances are to be proposed this autumn.