Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 108 
Biological agents have always been a risk at workplaces in several sectors, particularly in health and 
care, in agriculture and the food industry, in laboratories, and in wastewater treatment, waste disposal 
and recycling. Also, climate change will raise the risks from biological agents in Europe, due to the 
expected warming that allows biological agents from tropical and subtropical regions to migrate to 
Europe. 296  An increasing resistance of bacteria towards antibiotic treatment is a particular risk in 
hospitals and care institutions.  
 
 
The COVID-19 pandemic made the public aware of the powerful impact of these risks, and also of the 
high risks of infections in some occupations. During the pandemic, the above- mentioned list of 
workplaces with well -known risks from biological agents was significantly  extended; practically all 
workplaces with direct human–human communication were included, for example, workers in education, 
workers in public transport, sales and restaurant personnel and so on.  
During the pandemic preventive measures for workplaces were introduced that might change future 
prevention practices towards biological agents, fo r example,  the obligation to wear PPE might be 
applied for many more worker groups and for more circumstances, more rules for the organisation 
of personal contacts and communication at work have been developed and tested in practice, stronger 
ventilation might be implemented, and the measures might include a significantly higher use of 
disinfecting chemicals. The future development — be it regional or national outbreaks or worldwide 
pandemics — is unforeseeable. The connections between global societies due to international supply 
and transport chains and tourism will definitely increase the risk of future worldwide pandemics.  
 
  
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