Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 106 
Table 28: Digitalisation and OSH discussed – ESENER 2019279 
 
Actually, only 24% of surveyed establishments in ESENER 2019 reported discussing about the potential 
impact of digitalisation on the health and safety of workers. Of those 24% of all surveyed establishments, 
77% discuss the need for continuous training to keep skills updated. The next major topics are prolonged 
sitting (65%) and the request for more flexibility for employees in terms of place of work and working 
time (63%).280  
Some obvious side effects on working conditions require political actions. In res ponse to the rapid 
development of online platform work in the EU, the European Commission started several activities on 
how to protect people working through digital platforms . The new Strategic Framework on OSH 
aims at adapting the OSH directives on Workplace minimum requirements and Digital screen equipment.  
These fast and far-reaching changes by digitalisation have also triggered ethical concerns. The High-
Level Expert Group of the EU Commission on Ethics adds, referring to the development of AI : ‘In an AI 
context, freedom of the individual for instance requires mitigation of (in) direct illegitimate coercion, 
threats to mental autonomy and mental health, unjustified surveillance, deception and unfair 
manipulation.’281 In a report from 2022,  EU-OSHA hig hlighted the possible consequences of AI for 
worker management.282 
Major environmental changes and policies influence OSH.  The enhanced and accelerated 
introduction of environmental technologies is widely supported by national and EU  policies. 
(Green deal 283 and circular economy. 284) Consequently, the number of workers in these sectors will 
increase and impact the working condi tions of many workers.  Sectors/enterprises dealing with 
sustainable technologies grow fast, for example,  decentralised and carbon- free energy production, 
green products, waste and recycling, green mobility and transport, and energy saving buildings’ 
renovation. These ‘ green jobs’ have gained a relevant and sometimes essential share in several 
economic areas.285  
Sectors like construct ion and crafts  will profit significantly from this development. That would also 
mean that sector-typical OSH risks — accident risks — will ‘return’. Also new risks will emerge, a circular 
economy approach 286  will pose additional risks in recycling and waste treatment, due to more 
handling of contaminated materials and probable exposure to more chemical contaminants and 
infectious biological agents.  
EU-OSHA summarises: ‘The new technologies or working processes associated with green jobs can 
lead to new hazards, which call for new combinations of skills to deal with them: the “old” OSH 
knowledge cannot simply be transferred to them.  Installing a solar water heater, for example, involves 
combining the skills of a roofer, a plumber and an electrician.’ 287 
In addition, many of the new green technologies often require new skills and new processes and might 
produce unprecedented OSH risks  — for example , fire and explosion from less environmentally 
harmful but less safe chemicals. However, at the same time, green tec hnologies support risk 
reduction at source , due to principles such as limitation of hazardous chemicals and materials and