Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 137 
7.4.1 Variety of OSH systems 
In the EU Member States there exists a considerable variety of working conditions  and related 
prevention and monitoring systems, as well as a variety of OSH traditions, OSH cultures regarding risk 
awareness and preventive safety measures, different types of responsibilities of state institutions , and 
a variety of social dialogue schemes between employers’ and workers’ associations .  
Moreover, practically all EU OSH legislation is issued as European Directive, not as European 
Regulation. These directives set minimum standards that allow Member States to specify many details 
related to their national situation. In addition, in many f ields already existing national legislation was 
aligned in different ways with EU OSH directives.  
Consequently, the understanding and assessment of OSH at an EU  level causes methodological 
problems, for example, regarding the methods of data collection, the application  of indicators, 
harmonisation of monitoring approaches, and of terminology, recognition of work -related 
diseases, comparison of different infrastructures, and even the  technical measurement 
standards.  
It is not easy to apply data and research generation methodologies that are on one side well harmonised 
and on the other side give room to understand the functioning and value of different systems and 
infrastructures. Some trends seem to be general and obvious, and some Member States or some 
sectors or enterprises can experience no trend at all in this direction, or even the contrary development. 
Structural developments can differ significantly between countries. Of relevance seems to be the intra-
EU exchange of workforce, based on ongoing changes in production chains. The main flow of the 
workforce takes place — roughly described — from eastern and southern Europe to central, western 
and northern Europe.483  
Example: Working conditions – contrary trend developments in EU Member States  
‘The magnitude –  and sometimes the direction – of these sectoral changes varies from one country 
cluster to another. An increase in physical routine tasks in a few sectors, and a decline in cognitive tasks 
in the other services sector can be observed in Eastern countries. These changes are partly linked to a 
reorganisation of the value chain within Europe, which saw a reallocation of routine tasks from western 
European countries.’ 
Eurofound, 2020: Working conditions in sectors, p. 41 
 
7.4.2 Reliable and measurable indicators  
Several indicators are used to assess and estimate the quality and effectiveness of the preventive 
systems and processes. Not only the EU but also other countries have introduced such indicator -
based monitoring systems, for example, Norway,484 South Korea,485 Japan,486 Taiwan,487 Singapore,488 
United States,489 Canada,490 Australia491 and New Zealand.492 
The responsible institutions or authorities in these countries often developed several types of indicator, 
for example, indicators for implementation of protective legislation, for system effectiveness as well as 
for health outcomes. International organisations have also developed such monitoring indicators, for 
example, the ILO,493 the ILO in its OSH country profiles,494 the WHO495 and the UN496 (see textbox). 
 
United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals – Indicators for Target 8.8 
Target 8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, 
including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment  
Indicator 8.8.1: Frequency rates of fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries, by sex and migrant status 
Indicator 8.8.2: Level of national compliance of labour rights (freedom of association and collective 
bargaining) based on ILO textual sources and national legislation, by sex and migrant status