Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 76 
 
And there are also emerging and new risks  where health data will not be available until a certain 
number of workers are exposed for quite a while. Some prominent examples are nanotechnologies, 
the significant increase of new chemically  based technologies, vision impairment due to long hours of 
work under artificial light at the same distance with small digital equipment,183 more exposure to ‘global’ 
biological agents due to more interactional tasks , and travel and transport between countries and 
continents. On that note, the Covid- 19 pandemic could also be used as an example. In 2022,  the 
Commission proposed an update of the Recommendation on the ESOD to recognise Covid-19 as an 
occupational disease for workers particularly concerned: health and social care, home help or where 
there is a proven risk of infection (during a pandemic) in other sectors 184. 
It adds to these difficulties that workers are often not only exposed to one disease causing exposure but 
to several exposures at the same time (exposure is understood here in a broad sense: ranging from 
long working hours over postures and movements to harassment and violence and to noise and 
chemical and biological substances, etc.). In theory, a single risk — if below the threshold limit values 
and in line with legislation and standards — will not cause harm — given that it is the only exposure. 
The impact of this single exposure is not strong enough to generate a disease on the level of severity 
of a recognised occupational disease. A combination of several risks might add several exposures, 
worsen the impact and cause serious harm.  
Quite well studied is the increased prevalence of musculoskeletal diseases, if not only ergonomic risks 
but also high psychosocial risks are prevalent at the workplace.185 Research has also found unexpected 
connections like the synergistic  effect of noise and certain chemicals on hearing impairments. Such 
outcomes of multi-risk profiles are often particularly difficult to identify and understand. Obviously, most 
sectors and occupations involve workplaces with multi-risk profiles. Some prominent major risk s in 
certain sectors or occupations are:  
• agriculture = accidents, chemical and biological agents, UV exposure;  
• delivery services = traffic accidents, ergonomics, time pressure, exhaust fumes; 
• decentralised renewable energy construction and maintenance = falls from height, electricity;  
• waste and recycling = biological and chemical agents, cuts and accidents;  
• mobile work = ergonomics, work without time and space limits;  
• care at home = emotional, ergonomic, difficult clients, unsafe household situations, infection 
risks;  
• healthcare = emotional, ergonomics, biological;  
• personal and household services = emotional, ergonomic, unsafe household situations, e.g. 
unsafe electrical equipment, exposure to unknown chemicals;  
• long-haul sea, train, road or air transport = atypical working times, shift work, monotony, long 
phases of physical inactivity;  
• car repair = ergonomics, dust and fumes, chemicals;  
• construction = falls from height, accidents with machinery or vehicles, slips, trips and falls, 
ergonomics, noise, chemicals, dust, UV exposure, etc. 
 
  
ILO ‘List of Occupational Diseases Recommendation’ 
2.4. Mental and behavioural disorders  
• 2.4.1. Post-traumatic stress disorder 
• 2.4.2. Other mental or behavioural disorders not mentioned in the preceding item where a 
direct link is established scientifically, or determined by methods appropriate to national 
conditions and practice, between the exposure to risk factors arising from work activities and 
the mental and behavioural disorder(s) contracted by the worker