Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 129 
The use of external sources of information  to support with OSH management is relatively common 
across the EU27 , however, the type of organisational expertise received varies quite significantly by 
country, although, the most common source identified was ‘contracted OSH experts’ (64%), suggesting 
that establishments prefer to receive advice from private sources. This was followed by insurance 
providers (45%), which in some countries, such as Germany (84%), forms a core element of the OSH 
management organisational system.  
Further to this, slightly under two- thirds of establishments in the EU27 (62%) report using the services 
of an external provider to support them in their health and safety tasks, the shares being highest among 
establishments in Slovenia (86%) and Portugal (85%). Turning to external providers appears to be 
associated positively with establishment size while the sector breakdown reveals that it is the most 
frequent among establishments in manufacturing (72%).  
ESENER 2019 demonstr ates that the use of health and safety services  reveals occupational health 
doctors (76%), generalists on health and safety (61%), and experts for accident prevention (52%) to be 
the most frequently used. Focusing on psychosocial risks, the use of a psychologist is reported by only 
19% of establishments in the EU27, however significant differences can be observed between different 
countries. For example, in Finland the practice was indicated as widespread (from 60% to 71%), where 
a strong voluntary emphasis on managing mental health issues is places by national legislation. 419 
Concerning forms of employee representation , a health and safety representative was the most 
frequently reported figure: 57% of establishments in the EU27, slightly higher than in 2014. By sector, 
the shares were highest among establishments in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning (71%), 
education (67%), and mining and quarrying (67%). As expected, these findings are largely driven by 
establishment size.420  
ESENER 2019 as ked establishments about the appointment of the health and safety 
representatives and the findings reveal a very diverse picture across countries, in reflection of the 
different national frameworks. More than half (52%) of establishments in the EU27 report having the 
health and safety representative selected by the employer, the highest shares corresponding to 
Germany and the Czech Republic (83% of establishments), as opposed to Sweden, Finland and Italy 
(12%). On the other hand, substantially less than half  of the surveyed establishments (38%) indicated  
that health and safety representatives are elected by the employees, the shares being highest in Finland 
and Italy (80%) and Sweden (75%).  
This reveals two different philosophies: in the first group of Mem ber States, the employer selects an 
employee who has — or gets via training — a particular specialist knowledge in OSH, a representation 
of employees is not crucial for their selection, and the term ‘safety representatives’ is less adequate for 
this group than ‘OSH professional’ or ‘OSH practitioner’. In the second group of countries , the 
representation of workers’ interest in OSH has priority, self-evidently these elected employees also have 
the right to specialist training in OSH. Mixed systems also exist.  
As in the past, there are significant differences when it comes to the share of establishments where risk 
assessments are mainly conducted by internal staff . The country ranking changes significantly, 
being topped by Sweden (85% of establishments, up fr om 66% in 2014) and Denmark (80%, up from 
76%). The lowest shares are found in Slovenia (10%), Spain (10%) and Hungary (14%). While this does 
not conclude anything about the quality of these risk assessments in principle,  in some countries there