Working Together for Risk Prevention
The recent 2012 European Week for Safety and Health at Work highlighted the role of strong management leadership combined with active worker participation in making sure that Europe’s workplaces are safe, healthy and productive.
Organized by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) and its partners, the week highlighted events organized across Europe in support of the Healthy Workplaces Campaign ‘Working together for risk prevention’.
“Safety and health at work is everyone’s concern and we achieve success by working together,” explained Dr Christa Sedlatschek, director of EU-OSHA. “A good recent example of how things can go well, when employers and employees cooperate, has been the construction of the London 2012 Olympic Park, the largest infrastructure construction site in Europe, involving some 36,000 employees. The construction saw no fatalities – the first time ever for an Olympic stadium – thanks to strong leadership, clear lines of communication and the engagement of staff and partners in health and safety.”
Two Practical Guides
To support the campaign, EU-OSHA prepared two practical guides on management leadership and worker participation in occupational health and safety.
Management Leadership in OSH – a practical guide gives business leaders practical information on how safety and health can be improved through effective leadership, worker involvement and ongoing assessment and review.
The guide Worker Participation in OSH shows how workers can use their knowledge to actively liaise with managers to improve workplace safety and health. It outlines the respective roles, responsibilities and legal duties of workers, their representatives and employers.
The guides also contain useful ‘checklists’ for both employers and workers and their representatives.
iPad App
This material extends into new media, with the iPad app Working together – Healthy Workplaces Campaign, which includes valuable tools and resources for both workers and managers.
Author Michael B. Stack, CPA, Director of Operations, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
©2012 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.
