Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 17 
green, digital and demographic transitions; (2) improving prevention of workplace accidents and 
illnesses; and (3) increasing preparedness for any potential future health crises.  
Where did improvements take place? 
Improvements took place in major areas: legislation, guidance, instruction, development and use of 
OSH supporting analogue and digital tools, training of OHS practitioners and professionals, application 
of OSH management systems, organisational progress in many areas like safety coordination, higher 
awareness about several topics and aspects like specific risks for certain groups, psychosocial risks and 
mental health, technical improvements, better technologies to reduce physical health risks like noise or 
dust, less exposure to and use of highly hazardous chemicals, better medical treatment, financial 
incentives, and safety and health obligations from insurers.  
In public and policy, the main indicator for safety outcomes  remains the work accident figure, that 
is, fata l and non- fatal accidents at work and traffic accidents in connection with work or during 
commuting. The overall statistical picture shows a strong decrease since the mid-1990s until 2010; this 
positive development continued after 2010 but with significant ly lower reduction rates. The main cause 
of this decrease is better organisational and technical prevention, and it is also supported by economic 
developments like sectoral shifts — for example, decrease of workforce in high- risk sectors like mining 
and agriculture —, and technological changes.  
When looking at recognised occupational diseases — not work-related diseases — as an indicator for 
health outcomes of working conditions, these underwent a similar decrease to that for work accidents. 
The outcomes for the main occupational disease groups descended, for example, hearing impairments 
from noise at work, pulmonary diseases (from exposure to dust and chemicals), very specific 
musculoskeletal diseases, and diseases related to exposure to hazardous biological or chemical agents. 
However, the latest estimates of the burden of diseases from the WHO/ILO and ICOH do not show a 
decline in work -related diseases. The figures might even considerably increase in future estimates if 
mental diseases and illnesses from biological agents are incorporated.  
Coping with a broader variety of the workforce — higher age, higher skills and longer education, more 
women and more international workers —  is a challenge for OSH practices in enterprises. It is a topic 
that is tackled in a large and increasing number of preventive information and guidance documents. 
Preventive services, external or internal, in a private, state or mixed framework, are functioning 
as an important pillar of OSH; they are crucial for the implementation of good and best practices in 
enterprises.  
We can observe more global efforts  for better OSH. Ethical considerations in supply chains are of 
increasing importance for enterprises in international trade and many markets. International 
organisations like the ILO, WHO, ISSA, UN, ICOH and IALI continue to develop not only objectives and 
observation tools but also more and more action programmes to practically improve the situation globally.  
The modernisation of the EU OSH legislation  from the middle of the 1980s on wards has created a 
critical frame for prevention of OSH risks. The EU, Member States, governments and social partners 
have agreed on this legislation and the Member States have transposed them into their national 
legislation. The overall legislative framework is generally complete and comprehensive. Moreover, 
the European Commission launched an initiative to agree on the ‘European pillar of social rights’  
comprising 20 guiding principles for the work of the EU  institutions in the field of social policy. In 2017,