THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
In the Spotlight
+++ Pandemics +++
Stop the Covid-19 pandemic
by William Cockburn, Interim Executive Director, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Bilbao
T
he Covid-19 pandemic continues to be one of the biggest challenges that our societies and economies are facing. With most of Europe under lockdown for months in 2020 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, recently we are again witnessing very high incidence rates, with illnesses and deaths in many countries. This is putting significant pressure on health systems, but also on businesses. Decision-makers either have to implement new practices or suspend some activities altogether. As the virus will be likely to stay with us for a long while, many policymakers and employers are looking at how we can provide a safe and healthy working environment for both home-based teleworkers and those returning to their usual workplaces.
Guidance for safe and healthy working Policies and practices must be based on the application of sound occupational safety and health (OSH) principles to minimise the risk of exposure to the virus and minimise its spread. Therefore, at the European Agency for Safety and Health at 1 https://bit.ly/3fX8Qw2 2 https://bit.ly/3qVOXvy
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Work (EU-OSHA), we have compiled a range of guidance for safe and healthy working in the context of Covid-19. This initiative is fully in line with the European Commission’s response to the pandemic, and acts on one of the key priorities of the new EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 202120271, namely the increasing preparedness to respond to current and future health crises. The collection of resources is available on our website, under the section ‘Healthy Workplaces Stop the Pandemic’2 An excellent place to start is Covid-19: Back to the workplace – Adapting workplaces and protecting workers. This EU guidance (available in 25 languages) provides important information on using risk assessment as the starting point for reducing workers’ exposure to the virus and describes how workplaces and work practices can be adapted. It provides over 600 links to guidance specific to sectors from all over Europe and beyond, for example on retail in the Netherlands or construction in Italy. EU-OSHA has also published step-by-step guidance on getting back to work after Covid-19 infection for managers and workers. The guides explain the challenges that returning workers
photo: © olinchuk, stock.adobe.com
Resources for healthy workplaces
