Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 20 
2 Setting the scene 
 
 
The ethical and economic importance of safe and healthy working conditions was the root cause for the 
development of a strong legal framework and comprehensive policy actions targeting EU workplaces. 
The objective of all related measures is to reduce the avoidable burden for individuals and society, that 
is annually more than 3,000 fatal accidents at work, and more than 230,000 severe accidents at work, 
and an estimated 180,000 deaths from work-related illness. 
During the last 50 years, we have witnessed significant progress in the field of OSH in EU Member 
States. Milestones along the way provide evidence that a preventive, proactive and often participative 
approach has become mainstream in policies and many businesses. The number of work accidents that 
Eurostat registers has decreased significantly in the period between 1994 and 2020. The EU stabilised 
and promoted this development, particularly in the 1990s, by adopting the overarching OSH Framework 
Directive and 24 specific OSH directives. OSH strategies and strategic frameworks at EU and Member 
State levels have contributed to streamlined approaches in priority areas. Higher safety and health 
standards, better preventive technologies and OSH management, improved training and education of 
OSH professionals, and scientific, technical and medical progress have contributed considerably to 
improving safety and health at work. Member States, the EU and international organisations have been 
providing comprehensive and manifold guidance and support for enterprises, covering virtually every 
kind of OSH-related issue and proposing practical preventive measures. Broad and extensive research 
at national institutes and universities and by EU institutions has considerably improved the level of 
evidence and knowledge on OSH.  
Looking at the challenging and weaker aspects of the last 30 years, we still observe deficits concerning 
the level of compliance and enforcement of OSH legislation, particularly in some sectors, types of work 
(e.g. mobile or domestic work), types of enterprises (e.g., micro and small enterprises), and in less 
secure and irregular forms of work. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, quite a few media 
reported on insufficient safety and health measures in irregular, informal, insecure and illegal forms of 
work, for example, in several types of seasonal or subcontracted work. Permanent and seemingly 
accelerating changes in economic and social policies, technologies and forms of work, the demographic 
© Panumas/Adobe Stock