Mainstreaming report
Introduction
Global policies
European policies
The Role of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into education
Inclusion of health and safety issues into education in the Member States
Austria
Belgium
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Lithuania
Luxemburg
Malta
Poland
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Sweden
The Netherlands
UK
ENETOSH
1.Good practice examples
2.Conclusions, suggestions
Apendix Education Systems
Introduction
Mainstreaming OSH into education means integrating one policy area — occupational safety and health — into another — education. This means that different systems — with different institutions and different thinking — have to communicate with each other and to take joint action.
Integrating occupational safety and health into education at all levels is one of the key issues in reducing the high incidence of work-related accidents and illnesses. This applies especially for young staff. Young employees, aged 18-24, are 50% more likely to have an accident than the average staff member in industrialised countries.
Young people's safety and health at work - some statistics from the EU
There are about 43 million workers in the EU25 aged 15-29, of whom 5 million are less than 20-years-old (2004 Labour Force Survey).
Around 430 workers in Europe under the age of 25 are killed at work each year (2002 figures for the EU15 from European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW), Eurostat).
Every year, Europe’s workers aged 18-24 suffer around 714,000 accidents at work that are serious enough for them to lose 3 working days or more (this represents around 16% of the total of non-fatal accidents at work - 2002 data for the EU15 from ESAW, Eurostat).
The incidence rate of non-fatal accidents at work per 100,000 workers is more than 40% higher for 18 to 24-year-olds than for the total workforce. This phenomenon is observed across all sectors of economic activity (Eurostat: - Population and social conditions/ Health).
The youngest group of workers (those between 15 and 24 years old) is the most frequently exposed to physically demanding work (EWCS2000/ Age and working conditions in the EU, EFWC, 2003).
Working at very high speed and to tight deadlines is more prevalent among young workers. Young people are more likely to be exposed to repetitive movements and short repetitive tasks than the average worker, and they are more likely to be exposed to extremes of heat in the workplace. Younger workers are also more likely to be exposed to loud noise and vibration in the workplace (ESWC, Data extracted from ESWC 1995 and 2000 survey results by Prevent,
One of the main problems is that most young people enter the labour market with only little knowledge of the risks and preventive measures. Mainstreaming OSH is about developing a prevention culture and an integral part of this is to ensure that young people are qualified in the core principles of risk awareness and prevention before they enter the world of work. Health and safety education has to be a life-long process, part of the life-long learning, from pre-school onwards. It has to be part of an integrated strategy that encompasses all the necessary aspects of education, training, research and innovation for tomorrow’s EU.
In 2004 the European Agency for Safety and Health at work published a report on Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into education which provided a comprehensive overview of good practice examples throughout Europe and outlines steps toward a systematic strategy to integrate occupational safety and health (OSH) into education and training.
Model of mainstreaming OSH into education
As is recognized that the safety and health of tomorrow’s workforce depends on the mainstreaming of occupational safety and health (OSH) into education today, more and more countries are starting to integrate OSH into schools curricula as well as vocational and university courses.
The current report is focusing on how health and safety issues are included into educational curriculums of the Member States at different levels of education and aims to provide a broader and more comprehensive overview of this particular area.
Global policies
The role of education and training as a powerful tool for developing a sustainable safety and health prevention culture is also recognized at the international level. The ILO C155 Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981, identifies the main spheres of action to be taken account of in national policies on occupational safety, occupational health and the working environment in so far as they affect occupational safety and health and the working environment. One of these spheres of action is training, including necessary further training, qualifications and motivations of persons involved, in one capacity or another, in the achievement of adequate levels of safety and health. Furthermore, it states that "measures shall be taken with a view to promoting in a manner appropriate to national conditions and practice, the inclusion of questions of occupational safety and health and the working environment at all levels of education and training, including higher technical, medical and professional education, in a manner meeting the training needs of all workers".
European policies
Health policies
The importance of education, training and awareness raising has been recognised in EU policies concerning health and safety
Community action in the field of public health (2003-2008)
attention should be given to the right of the Community population to receive simple, clear and scientifically sound information about measures to protect health and prevent diseases, with a view to improving quality of life.
The overall aim of the public health programme is to
contribute towards the attainment of a high level of
physical and mental health and well-being and greater
equality in health matters throughout the Community,
by directing action towards improving public health,
preventing human diseases and disorders, and obviating
sources of danger to health with a view to combating
morbidity and premature mortality, while taking gender
and age into consideration.
In order to achieve this, the programme should take into
account the importance of education, training and
networking.
Health and safety at work
Strengthening the prevention culture
The European Union strategy on health and safety at work underlines the necessity of strengthening the prevention culture by means of education, awareness training and anticipating new and emerging risks in order to maintain and improve the quality of work (4).
The strategy has identified education and training as key factors to strengthen the prevention culture.
The Community's policy on health and safety is based on preventive approaches bringing in all the players, including the workers themselves, with a view to developing a genuine culture of risk prevention, the aim being to anticipate risks and bring them under control.
The key words are - Education, awareness, anticipation: improving people's knowledge of risks
Creating a controlled work environment means improving everyone's knowledge of the risks. This means developing an approach which is both global and preventive, geared to promoting well-being at work, and going beyond the mere prevention of specific risks.
Education does not start with entry into the world of work, as the Economic and Social Committee has pointed out: it should be part and parcel of the school curriculum, either with a view to making people more aware of the problem (much like road safety is taught in some countries), or as a vocational subject in its own right. However, the most important element here is continuing vocational training. This must be dispensed regularly and be geared to the realities of day-to-day work, with a view to impacting directly on the work environment.
Adapting to change in work and society: a new Community strategy on health
and safety at work 2002–2006
Education policies
Investment in education and training is a key factor of the Union's competitiveness, sustainable growth, and employment and therefore a prerequisite for achieving the economic, social and environmental goals set in Lisbon for the European Union.
In March 2000, the Lisbon European Council set a new strategic goal for the European Union: to become ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion’. To achieve this, Europe's education and training systems need to adapt to the demands of the knowledge society and to the need for an improved level and quality of employment. One of the main components of this approach is the promotion of new basic skills. The strategy stressed that "Every citizen must be equipped with the skills needed to live and work in this new information society" and that "a European framework should define the new basic skills (1) to be provided through lifelong learning: IT skills, foreign languages, technological culture, entrepreneurship and social skills". The Lisbon European Council called upon the MemberStates, the Council and the Commission to establish a European framework defining ‘the new basic skills’ to be provided through lifelong learning.
The mandate was reiterated and developed in the "Education and Training 2010" work programme (ET2010) adopted by the Barcelona Council in March 2002, which also called for further action to "improve the mastery of basic skills" and to strengthen the European dimension in education. This work was to focus on identifying the basic skills and how, together with traditional skills, they can be better integrated in the curricula, learned, and maintained through life. Basic skills should be genuinely available for everyone, including for those with special needs, school drop-outs and adult learners. Validation of basic skills should be promoted to support further learning and employability. The detailed work programme extended the list of basic skills as follows: literacy and numeracy (foundation skills), basic competences in mathematics, science and technology, ICT and use of technology, learning to learn, social skills, entrepreneurship and general culture.
The Commission Communication on lifelong learning (2001) and the subsequent Council Resolution (June 2002) further stressed the need to provide lifelong learning opportunities for all, particularly to acquire and update basic skills.
Based on this political mandate, a Working Group on basic skills, established in 2001 in the context of Education and Training 2010 work programme, has developed a framework of key competences needed in a knowledge society and prepared with a number of recommendations on ensuring that all citizens can acquire them.
The Recommendation presents a European reference tool for key competences and suggests how these competences could be better integrated into curricula, maintained and learned through life.
Key competences are defined as a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes which individuals need for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment.
Occupational safety and health is not mentioned explicitly in the recommendation, but implicitly it is included into the framework of the key competences.
For example, for science and technology, essential knowledge related to competences comprises an understanding of the risks of applications and technology. Attitudes related to basic competences in science and technology include respect both for safety and sustainability.
Furthermore, interpersonal, intercultural and social competences "cover all forms of behaviour that equip individuals to participate in an effective ad constructive way in social and working life".
"Personal and social well-being requires an understanding of how individuals can ensure optimum physical and mental health, including as a resource for oneself and one’s family, and knowledge of how a healthy lifestyle can contribute to this. For successful interpersonal and social participation it is essential to understand the codes of conduct and manners generally accepted in different societies and environments (e.g. at work), and to be aware of basic concepts relating to individuals, groups, work organisations, gender equality, society and culture".
IMPLEMENTATION OF “EDUCATION AND TRAINING 2010” WORK PROGRAMME
WORKING GROUP B “KEY COMPETENCES”
KEY COMPETENCES FOR LIFELONG LEARNING - A EUROPEAN REFERENCE FRAMEWORK
NOVEMBER 2004
"EDUCATION & TRAINING 2010"
THE SUCCESS OF THE LISBON STRATEGY HINGES ON URGENT REFORMS
Joint interim report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the detailed work programme on the follow-up of the objectives of education and training systems in Europe
Proposal for a
RECOMMENDATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
on key competences for lifelong learning
The Role of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into education
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work started its project ‘Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into education’ in 2002 with the slogan ‘Start young, stay safe’. The project consisted of gathering and analysing existing practices, disseminating information by means of a web feature, and setting up a ‘contact group’ to explore issues further The thinking behind the project was that the sooner children and young people get acquainted with the concept of safety and health, the sooner they can develop risk awareness, and the better they can shape their own safe and healthy environment in their future working and private lives.
In May 2002 the Agency organised a seminar ‘Learning about occupational safety and health’ together with the Spanish EU Presidency and in cooperation with the European Commission. This seminar initiated the discussion about ‘mainstreaming OSH into education’ at European level. The Agency published the proceedings of the seminar, a Forum publication and a dedicated web feature on this topic. The main conclusion of the seminar — ‘to start safety and health awareness raising and education from an early age onwards’ — was included in the final version of the Community strategy. Furthermore, speakers and participants of the seminar agreed on the need for a platform for OSH and education experts to meet together, to exchange experiences and to learn from each other.
In the following year an Agency contact group ‘Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into education and training’ was set up, composed of OSH and education experts. The group consists of representatives from the EU Member States, the EFTA States, from the Employment and Social Affairs DG, the Education and Culture DG and representatives nominated by the social partners.
The first meeting of this group was held in May 2003 in Bilbao. At the meeting, the outline of a future strategy to mainstream occupational safety and health into education was discussed. The conclusions of this meeting created the basis for the ‘Rome Declaration on mainstreaming OSH into education and training’ announced by the Italian EU Presidency on 3 October 2003. At the end of the seminar ‘Mainstreaming OSH into education — The workers of tomorrow’, organised in context of the international conference in Rome on occupational safety and health in SME's, the health and safety experts agreed upon the key ingredients for a coherent strategy to mainstream occupational safety and health into education and training at European level.
Rome Declaration on Mainstreaming OSH into Education and Training
The main objective of the Rome Declaration was to prepare and sustain people during their life, since their childhood, engaging schools and any other professional training institution in actions providing safer and healthier workforce in the EU of tomorrow.
Health and safety experts agreed upon the need for a European strategy based on qualified and quantified goals aiming at:
- Preparing children and young people for the challenge of their future working life assuring them occupational safety and health;
- Providing all citizens and workers, in particular, with a life long learning;
- Improving the involvement of educational and training system initial and continuing in fostering health and safety in the workplace.
This strategy needs to be clearly focused on young people.
The Declaration called upon the European Social Affairs Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission to consider action, amongst other, to include health and safety issues in European Employment guidelines, to develop an action plan to mainstream OSH in education & training at the European level and to carry out regularly actions in cooperation with the European Social Partners in order to promote it, to support the development of European networks for safety and health vocational training in different sectors.
Furthermore, the Declaration called upon the EU-Member States and Accession States and their Social Partners, to consider, amongst other setting national goals and developing coherent strategies for preparing children and young people for working life by means of education & training and setting qualified and quantified goals for improvement of the working environment in schools and other educational establishment.
In 2004, the Agencypublished the Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into education. Good practice in school and vocational education report. The report gives a comprehensive overview of good practice examples throughout Europe and outlines steps toward a systematic strategy to integrate occupational safety and health into education at European level.
The report is aimed at practitioners and intermediaries within the educational system, and policymakers and social partners both at Member State and EU level. The report describes and analyses 36 examples of how different EU countries have successfully integrated OSH into different levels of the education system, from kindergartens up to universities and specialist vocational colleges. It also provides a road map for the future development of a coherent strategy to mainstream occupational safety and health into education at European level.