European Health and Safety Week takes place in October each year and is designed to raise awareness of health and safety.
The European Agency for Safety and Health describes the week as: "Aimed at people in organisations, companies and workplaces of all sizes and sectors. Everybody involved in occupational safety and health matters is invited to take part, especially safety and health institutions and occupational insurance organisations, trade unions and employers' organisations, companies, managers, employees and safety representatives."
Health and Safety Week 2014 will take place in the third week of October – 20th to the 24th Oct
The theme for the European Health and Safety campaign for 2014 -15 is 'Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress'.
The week is run by the European Agency for Safety and Health who have published a site full of news, materials and activities. In the UK the week is being coordinated by the Health and Safety Executive. The TUC will be undertaking a number of initiatives during the week.
The Wednesday of European Health and Safety Week is traditionally National Inspection Day when all safety representatives are encouraged to inspect their workplace.
The TUC guide into workplace inspections is available from the E-Library Database and from the USR Resources webpage of this website here
Stress at Work is an important area of work for the CWU’s H&S Dept, which has provided a range of Letters To Branches on this subject, including HSE advice, and good practice.
The European Agency statement on work related stress:
"Stress is the second most frequently reported work related health problem in Europe and, along with other psychosocial risks, is thought to account for more than half (50-60 %) of all lost working days. A poor psychosocial work environment can have significant negative effects on workers' health.
Psychosocial risks occur in every workplace, but even with only limited resources they can be successfully assessed and managed. This campaign provides support and guidance for workers and employers in managing work-related stress and psychosocial risks, and promotes the use of practical, user friendly tools to facilitate this."
The TUC has produced a revised guide to tackling stress using the HSE management standards for European health and safety week.
Both the TUC guide for safety reps on managing stress in the workplace and the HSE managing stress standards can be downloaded from the E-Library Database using search category ‘stress’.
Source: CWU / European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
See also: New Report Shows How Healthy Workplaces Are Managing Stress
USR Resources are available via the healthy-workplaces website
