Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 131 
7 Methodological approaches, available data and research 
questions 
7.1 The need for a detailed OSH information base  
Describing the state of OSH  in the EU requires reliable data . Many national and European OSH 
institutions and research institutes contribute to this data generation, covering a broad array of topics.421  
A reliable overview of the stat e of OSH is not an easy task, although the current information base is 
already broad: obligatory statistical data, 422 EU-wide surveys,423 and comprehensive reports and 
research on facts and figures,  on policies, capacities and actions , provided by OSH  institutions, 
agencies, universities and research institutes, professional organisations and international organisations 
(e.g. ILO, WHO and OECD). The EU  sources range from quantitative datasets, for example, Eurostat 
statistics and large EU -wide surveys (e.g. ESENER ,424 EWCS,425 LFS,426 Flash Eurobarometer427), to 
detailed background reports on risks, OSH systems and infrastructures (e.g. by EU-OSHA, Eurofound, 
etc.) and evaluations and assessments of the level of implementation of OSH directives (e.g. by DG 
EMPL and by SLIC or surveys facilitated by the National Labour Inspectorates428).  
The council Regulation (EC) No 2062/94 establishing EU-OSHA, mentions that: ‘the Agency's role shall 
be to […] collect and disseminate technical, scientific and economic information…’ .429 In addition, t he 
EU OSH Strategy 2002 to 2006 430 defined such work in a better information base explicitly as a major 
task of EU-OSHA: ‘The European Agency for Health and Safety at Work: - will set up a “risk observatory”, 
based on examples of good practice collected from firms or specific branches of activity; -  will organise 
exchanges of experience and information by way of the systematic collection of data, with the support 
of Eurostat.’ Several publications from different periods document this approach. 431  
The need for better information and data is well known, as the EU Strategy 2007 to 2012 underlined: 
‘to better identify and assess potential risks by doing more research, exchanging knowledge and 
applying results in practice; - to develop monitoring tools to track progress; …. 432 The EU Strategic 
Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014- 2020 defined seven key objectives, where key 
objective 6 requests better data: ‘Improving statistical data collection to have better evidence and 
developing monitoring tools’. 433  
The most recent EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2021 -2027 puts the focus 
on changes, with the title ‘Occupational safety and health in a changing world of work’.434 It emphasises 
the value of science-based evidence by stating: ‘Research and data collection, both at EU and national 
level, are a pre- condition for the prevention of work -related diseases and accidents. Scientific advice 
and the latest technological developments feed into OSH legislation and policy.’  
These objectives show that good — and often m ore and better — evidence and monitoring tools are 
needed to understand all aspects of safety and health at work — as a pre-condition for priority setting 
and effective preventive actions. Consequently, in their national OSH strategies , a good number of  
Member States have agreed on provision of better data as a major target. 435  
One example for such a monitoring exercise is EU-OSHA’s series of foresight studies, for example, on 
emerging risks in the healthcare sector, including home and community care , emerging accident and 
electricity risks in renewable energy jobs, cost of work-related stress and psychosocial risks , and also 
shorter expert discussion papers, for example, on topics like nanotechnologies, robotics, 3D printing 
and use of performance-enhancing drugs in working life.436  
 
7.2 Quantitative data on OSH