Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 44 
Table 6: Physical health risks, Ergonomics – EWCS 2015  
 
Country colours: Cyprus aquamarine, Greece orange, Spain blue. 
 
The exposure to painful and tiring positions and hand/arm movements are highest in southern and 
eastern EU Member States. They also seem to be closely correlated to the sector aggregate ‘Trade, 
transport, food/accommodation and recreation activities’. Moving and carrying heavy loads is also 
connected to the sectors agriculture, manufacturing and construction — Romania, Latvia, Slovakia and 
Spain are part of the top seven. Looking at the countries for the share of workers who are lifting or 
moving people, Romania, Sweden and Ireland are the countries with the highest shares (15%, 14% and 
13%).  
Regarding occupations, manual workers  — craft workers, plant and machine operators, and 
agricultural workers — have the highest score of posture-related risks and ambient ergonomic risks. 
 
Table 7: Physical health risks, Ergonomics – EWCS 201559