Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 115 
services that do not require personal presence, digitalisation facilitates a massive global deployment of 
the workforce. 
From an OSH point of view, it would be beneficial to investigate the divide of OSH in the whole supply 
chain, that is, leaving the restricted focus on OSH in the limited European share of the production chain. 
It would also generate a clearer picture of how the status of OSH in the EU would look after considering 
the import and export of risks.317 The national or European OSH data simply cannot give the full picture 
in a globalised production setting.318  
Approaches promoting OSH at all workplaces in these chains or networks can mitigate the negative 
impacts of the relocation of production and service processes with high OSH risks. Global enterprises, 
business federations, NGOs and governments support supply chain promotion;  often it is a part of fair-
trade agreements or actions. Approaches promoting OSH at all workpla ces in these chains or 
networks can mitigate the negative impacts of the re location of production and service processes with 
high OSH risks. Examples are certificates of business organisations, the Global Reporting Initiative topic 
Standard for Occupational Safety and Health, 319 and the UN Principles for Responsible Investment.320 
Also, national legislators are considering or discussing or have already agreed on supply chain 
legislations. In 2022, the E uropean Commission proposed a supply chain law, called ‘Corporate 
sustainability due diligence’ , and  the expectation is that ‘The new rul es will ensure that businesses 
address adverse impacts of their actions, including in their value chains inside and outside Europe.’ 321 
Already in 2017 the EU issued a directive on several ‘conflict minerals’ (tin, tantalum and tungsten, their 
ores, and gold). Its functioning is described in the preamble as follows: ‘… supply chain due diligence is 
an ongoing, proactive and reactive process through which economic operators monitor and administer 
their purchases and sales with a view to ensuring that they do not contribute to conflict or the adverse 
impacts thereof.’322  
 
 
Globalisation does not only refer to products and services but also to workforce that is working in other 
countries on the same or another continent, temporar ily or seasonal ly, sometimes permanently. An 
exchange of workforce of a similar level of skills and employment conditions probably poses few risks 
regarding OSH. A relevant risk shift takes place when workers from low - or medium-income countries 
take over hard, dangerous and dirty work in high-income countries.  
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