Work today and in the future : Perspectives on Occupational Safety and Health challenges and opportunities for the Nordic labour inspectorates

This report was commissioned by the Nordic Director Generals at the labour inspectorates to better prepare the labour inspectorates for the future of work. The report is authored by the Nordic Future of Work Group. The purpose of the report is to identify and analyse the occupational safety and health challenges to labour inspectorates in the light of the imminent future of work. Three main aspects make this report unique. First, the report focusses on occupational safety and health and labour inspection. This perspective is not common in future of work studies and analyses. Second, the report gives practical recommendations for labour inspectorates. Third, the report provides an exclusive Nordic perspective on themes of regional and global importance in the context of labour inspection. This report delivers a diverse set of perspectives on the future of work and occupational safety and health based on published literature and active engagement with national and international stakeholders as well as the research community. It is anticipated that the future of work will be influenced by four drivers: the changes attributed to technology, demographics, globalisation, and environmental and climate change. These drivers independently or taken together have an impact on occupational safety and health. The report concludes with providing general and specific recommendations to better equip the labour inspectorates to meet the challenges of the near and distant future. These practical recommendations form the context for the further development of Nordic labour inspectorates ability to tackle occupational safety and health challenges as they concern the future of work

Sentinel surveillance and occupational disease

Improving collection and analysis of data to measure trends in occupational diseases (ODs) has long been, and continues to be, a strategic aim of past and future European Union strategies for health and safety at work. precision in terminology has traditionally influenced the gradual growth of science, including in the discipline of medicine. Definitions evolve over time reflecting contemporary scientific thinking and developments shaped by social, political and academic factors. Sentinel surveillance systems in occupational health involve the ongoing and rapid identification of sentinel health events (cases and their corresponding occupational risks) for purposes of follow-up and for developing statistical trends. The goal of such surveillance systems is to enhance case reporting, identify risk factors and high-risk work sites and link preventive interventions to work sites and the broader community. The under-reporting of compensable and non-compensable work-related health problems by physicians is a well-documented phenomenon. Improving the reporting by physicians to surveillance systems in general and particularly health problems attributed to new and emerging risks is a central objective for MODERNET. In the MODERNET consortium, we looked specifically at the term \u2018OD\u2019 as it is applied to sentinel surveillance systems and examined if the term facilitates or hinders reporting of work-related health problems to surveillance systems

Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic—what Occupational Safety and Health can bring to Public Health

We strive to increase public (PH) and occupational health (OSH) inter-linkages by building a collaborative framework. Besides Covid-19 pandemic, recent approaches such as Human Exposome and Total Worker Health TM, have led to a shift to improving health of working population and consequently the total population. These health objectives can be best realised through primary care actors in specific contexts. Work, school, home and leisure are the four multi-stakeholder contexts in which health and healthcare (goal-oriented care) objectives needs to be set and defined. PH policy makers need to establish a shared decision-making process involving employees, employers and OSH representatives to set PH goals and align with OSH goals. The policy making process in OSH can serve as a potential way forward, as the decisions and policies are being decided centrally in consultation with social partners and governments. This process can then be mirrored on company level to adopt and implement

Trends in incidence of occupational asthma, contact dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss, carpal tunnel syndrome and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders in European countries from 2000 to 2012

The European Union (EU) strategy for health and safety at work underlines the need to reduce the incidence of occupational diseases (OD), but European statistics to evaluate this common goal are scarce. We aim to estimate and compare changes in incidence over time for occupational asthma, contact dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders across 10 European countries.status: publishe

Trends in incidence of occupational asthma, contact dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss, carpal tunnel syndrome and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders in European countries from 2000 to 2012.

The European Union (EU) strategy for health and safety at work underlines the need to reduce the incidence of occupational diseases (OD), but European statistics to evaluate this common goal are scarce. We aim to estimate and compare changes in incidence over time for occupational asthma, contact dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders across 10 European countries. OD surveillance systems that potentially reflected nationally representative trends in incidence within Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK provided data. Case counts were analysed using a negative binomial regression model with year as the main covariate. Many systems collected data from networks of 'centres', requiring the use of a multilevel negative binomial model. Some models made allowance for changes in compensation or reporting rules. Reports of contact dermatitis and asthma, conditions with shorter time between exposure to causal substances and OD, were consistently declining with only a few exceptions. For OD with physical causal exposures there was more variation between countries. Reported NIHL was increasing in Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands and decreasing elsewhere. Trends in CTS and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders varied widely within and between countries. This is the first direct comparison of trends in OD within Europe and is consistent with a positive impact of European initiatives addressing exposures relevant to asthma and contact dermatitis. Taking a more flexible approach allowed comparisons of surveillance data between and within countries without harmonisation of data collection method