Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 92 
Regarding this question, age differences are negligible . Concerning gender , male respondents 
report more often that their work imposes health risks; at EU level the values are 23% for female workers 
and 27% for male workers.  
In 2005, the workers in the 10 new Member States responded much less positive ; 40% of the 
workers in the 10 new Member States considered their health and safety to be affected because of their 
work.  
 
Figure 31: ‘Health at risk’, responses in groups of EU Member States – EWCS253  
 
For the EU -15 (Member States that joined the EU before 2004), the ‘Yes’  responses to this question 
decreased from 31% in 1991 (first EWCS) to 28% in 2005 and reached 26% in 2015.  For the 10 new 
Member States the rate decreased, from previously 40% in 2005 to 29% in 2015.254 The EU membership 
has definitely created more convergence between the countries. 
 
4.3.3 Reported health problems 
The identification of current work -related health problems is another approach to create an indicator 
for health status. Eurostat collected this data in the LFS Ad hoc modules 2007, 2013 and 2020, Persons 
reporting a work-related health problem by sex, age and NACE Rev. 2 activity.255  
In 2007, 14.6% of employed persons reported a work -related health problem; this figure decreased 
in 2013 to 8.8% and went up again to 10.3% in 2020256 (EU27 level). As expected, age is one of the 
factors that influence the response to this question. I n 2020, 14.1% of the workers in age class 55-64 
years reported a work-related health problem, compared to 6.5% in age class 15- 34 years and 10.8 in 
age class 35-54 years. These differences between the age classes were quite similar in all three points 
of time.