Presentation by William Cockburn, Acting Head of the Prevention and Research Unit, EU-OSHA

1. Safety and health at work is everyone’s concern. It’s good for you. It’s good for business.
How is OSH managed at the workplace?
Evidence from the Second European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging
Risks (ESENER-2)
Latvian Presidency Conference on Occupational Safety and Health
Riga, 27-28 April 2015
William Cockburn
Acting Head of the Prevention and Research Unit

2. 2
www.esener.eu
Content
1. ESENER-2 timeline and outlook
2. ESENER-2 methodology
3. Main findings
4. Conclusions

3. 3
www.esener.eu
1. ESENER-2: European Survey of Enterprises on New
and Emerging Risks – timeline and outlook
Output Date
First findings report (EN) 12 February 2015
Summary report (EN + LV + all)
Latvian Presidency Conference on
Occupational Safety and Health,
Riga, 27 April 2015
Online visualisation tool
(all languages)
European Parliament, Brussels
(tbc)
 2014:
• October: Fieldwork completed
• November: Data preparation and delivery
 2015
Launch of two secondary analysis projects
Worker participation in the management of OSH Ongoing
Joint analysis LFS 2013 ad-hoc module and
ESENER-2
Call for tender launched on
3 April 2015.

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www.esener.eu
2. ESENER-2 Methodology: some changes,..
Greater geographical
coverage
ESENER-1 ESENER-2
Countries
Total of 31:
EU-28 + Turkey, Norway,
Switzerland
Total of 36:
ESENER-1 + Albania, Iceland,
Macedonia, Montenegro and
Serbia
Establishments
surveyed
30,000 49,000
National versions of
questionnaire
-Adapted for language and
national OSH terminology
41 47
Increased proportion
of workplaces
covered
ESENER-1 ESENER-2
Smallest business size 10 workers 5 workers
Sector
All, including public,
except agriculture and
fishing
All, including public and
agriculture and fishing

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2. ESENER-2 Methodology: technical information
 Fieldwork: 14 July -20 October 2014.
27%
42%
21%
10%
5-9
10-49
50-249
250+
 Universe: 6.7 million establishments and 183 million employees.
• Average factor: every interview in ESENER-2 represents 135
establishments.
• Germany 506 – Iceland 8 (Latvia 33)
 Final sample distribution by establishment size (in %).

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2. ESENER-2 Methodology: One respondent - function?
(% establishments, EU-28).
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
5-9 10-49 50-249 250+
Owner of a firm, managing director, site manager Manager without specific OSH tasks
Manager with specific OSH tasks OSH specialist without managerial function
Employee representative in charge of OSH External OSH consultant

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www.esener.eu
3. ESENER-2 – Risk factors present in the
establishment (% establishments, EU-28).
Base: all establishments in the EU-28.
Note: psychosocial risk factors shaded in orange.
0 20 40 60 80 100
Discrimination, for example due to gender, age or ethnicity
Employees' lack of influence on their work pace or work…
Job insecurity
Poor communication or cooperation within the organisation
Long or irregular working hours
Loud noise
Heat, cold or draught
Increased risk of slips, trips and falls
Chemical or biological substances
Time pressure
Risk of accidents with vehicles in the course of work
Lifting or moving people or heavy loads
Risk of accidents with machines or hand tools
Repetitive hand or arm movements
Tiring or painful positions, including sitting for long periods
Having to deal with difficult customers, patients, pupils etc.

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www.esener.eu
3. ESENER-2 – Risk factors present in the
establishment, by sector (% establishments, EU-28).
Base: all establishments in the EU-28.
Activity sector group
Most frequently reported risk factors
(% of establishments in the sector in the EU-28)
First Second
A: Agriculture, forestry and
fishing.
Risk of accidents with machines or
hand tools (78%)
Risk of accidents with vehicles in
the course of work (73%)
B, D, E, F: Construction, waste
management, water and electricity
supply.
Risk of accidents with machines or
hand tools (82%)
Lifting or moving people of heavy
loads (71%)
C: Manufacturing.
Risk of accidents with machines or
hand tools (77%)
Repetitive hand or arm movements
(58%)
G, H, I, R: Trade, transport,
food/accommodation and
recreation activities.
Having to deal with difficult
customers, patients, pupils, etc.
(62%)
Repetitive hand or arm movements
(49%)
J, K, L, M, N, S: IT, Finance, Real
estate and other technical
scientific or personal service
activities.
Tiring or painful positions, including
sitting for long periods (64%)
Having to deal with difficult
customers, patients, pupils, etc.
(56%)
O: Public administration.
Tiring or painful positions, including
sitting for long periods (76%)
Having to deal with difficult
customers, patients, pupils, etc.
(68%)
P, Q: Education, human health and
social work activities.
Having to deal with difficult
customers, patients, pupils, etc.
(75%)
Tiring or painful positions, including
sitting for long periods (61%)

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www.esener.eu
3. ESENER-2 - Workplace risk assessments carried out
regularly and risk assessments mainly conducted by internal
staff, by country (% establishments).
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Luxembourg
Iceland
Switzerland
Greece
Albania
Cyprus
Montenegro
France
Austria
Slovakia
Malta
Germany
FYROM
Belgium
Estonia
Serbia
Ireland
Netherlands
Finland
Lithuania
EU-28
Total 36
Portugal
Poland
Hungary
Czech Republic
Norway
Croatia
Sweden
Latvia
Turkey
Romania
Spain
Bulgaria
United Kingdom
Denmark
Slovenia
Italy
Risk assessments regularly Mainly conducted by internal staff

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www.esener.eu
3. ESENER-2 - Reasons why workplace risk assessments
are not carried out regularly, by establishment size
(% establishments, EU-28).
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
5-9 10-49 50-249 250+
The hazards and risks are already known There are no major problems
The necessary expertise is lacking The procedure is too burdensome
Base: establishments in the EU-28 that do not carry out risk assessments regularly.

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www.esener.eu
3. ESENER-2 – Health and safety issues discussed at the top
level of management, regularly (% establishments).
Base: establishments with more than 19 employees.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Montenegro
Estonia
Iceland
Slovenia
Croatia
Poland
Serbia
Hungary
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Portugal
Greece
Bulgaria
Lithuania
Austria
Malta
FYROM
Turkey
Latvia
Spain
Finland
Netherlands
Total 36
Belgium
Germany
France
EU-28
Cyprus
Sweden
Slovakia
Albania
Ireland
Denmark
Italy
Norway
Romania
United Kingdom
Czech Republic

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www.esener.eu
3. ESENER-2 - Major reasons for addressing health and
safety (% establishments, EU-28).
Base: all establishments in the EU-28.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Fulfilling legal obligation Meeting expectations
from employees or their
representatives
Avoiding fines from the
labour inspectorate
Maintaining the
organisation's reputation
Maintaining or
increasing productivity

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www.esener.eu
3. ESENER-2 - Major difficulties in addressing health and
safety (% establishments, EU-28).
Base: all establishments in the EU-28.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
5-9 10-49 50-249 250+
The complexity of legal obligations The paperwork
A lack of time or staff A lack of money
A lack of awareness among staff A lack of expertise or specialist support
A lack of awareness among management

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3. ESENER-2 - Difficulties in addressing psychosocial risks,
by establishment size (% establishments, EU-28).
Base: establishments in the EU-28 that report at least one psychosocial risk factor to be present in their establishments.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
5-9 10-49 50-249 250+
Reluctance to talk openly about these issues A lack of awareness among staff
A lack of expertise or specialist support A lack of awareness among management

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www.esener.eu
3. ESENER-2 - Use of a psychologist, in-house or contracted
externally, by country (% establishments).
Base: all establishments.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Cyprus
Estonia
Hungary
Albania
Greece
Lithuania
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Luxembourg
Latvia
Malta
Turkey
Italy
Slovakia
Bulgaria
Germany
Ireland
Montenegro
Iceland
Portugal
United Kingdom
France
Total 36
EU-28
Spain
Austria
Poland
Serbia
Norway
Slovenia
Croatia
Netherlands
FYROM
Belgium
Denmark
Romania
Sweden
Finland

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www.esener.eu
3. ESENER-2 - Use of an expert dealing with the ergonomic
design and set-up of workplaces, in-house or contracted
externally, by country (% establishments).
Base: all establishments.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Serbia
Croatia
Poland
Bulgaria
Iceland
Romania
Montenegro
Hungary
Estonia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
France
Latvia
Switzerland
Malta
United Kingdom
Albania
FYROM
Turkey
Denmark
Ireland
Italy
Total 36
EU-28
Cyprus
Greece
Slovenia
Portugal
Germany
Austria
Netherlands
Belgium
Norway
Sweden
Spain
Finland

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3. ESENER-2 - Forms of employee representation, by activity
sector (% establishments, EU-28).
Base: all establishments in the EU-28 –size depending on national thresholds for these representation forms.
NACE Rev. 2 sections: A: Agriculture, forestry and fishing. B, D, E, F: Construction, waste management, water and electricity supply. C:
Manufacturing. G, H, I, R: Trade, transport, food/accommodation and recreation activities. J, K, L, M, N, S: IT, Finance, Real estate and other
technical scientific or personal service activities. O: Public administration. P, Q: Education, human health and social work activities.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Works council Trade union representation Health and safety representative Health and safety committee
A BDEF C GHIR JKLMNS O PQ

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www.esener.eu
https://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/esener-ii-summary.pdf

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4. Conclusions
 The majority of establishments carry out regular workplace risk
assessment
• But prevalence varies according to size of enterprise and country
 In-house vs. outsourced risk assessment
• Very different practices across Member States
• Even the smallest firms can do risk assessment without contracting
experts
 EU legislation has been successful in encouraging action at workplace
level, but
• Questions remain over the quality of those actions
• Implementation is far from uniform
 Legislation is necessary…
• Main driver regardless of size is legal obligation
 … but not sufficient
• Main reason for not taking action is “we don’t have any major problems”,
especially in the smaller enterprises, which actually have higher rates of
accidents
• Low awareness of risks  unlikely to take action

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www.esener.eu
THANK YOU!
www.esener.eu
http://oshwiki.eu/wiki/Category:Statistics

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2. ESENER-2 Methodology: achieved sample size
Country
Interviews for
ESENER-2
Albania 750
Austria 1,503
Belgium 1,504
Bulgaria 750
Croatia 751
Cyprus 751
Czech Republic 1,508
Denmark 1,508
Estonia 750
Finland 1,511
France 2,256
Germany 2,261
Greece 1,503
Hungary 1,514
Iceland 757
Ireland 750
Italy 2,254
Latvia 753
Country
Interviews for
ESENER-2
Lithuania 774
Luxembourg 752
FYROM 750
Malta 452
Montenegro 452
Netherlands 1,519
Norway 1,513
Poland 2,257
Portugal 1,513
Romania 756
Serbia 752
Slovakia 750
Slovenia 1,051
Spain 3,162
Sweden 1,521
Switzerland 1,511
Turkey 2,251
United Kingdom 4,250
Total 49,320

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2. ESENER-2 Methodology:
National sample boosts
 Funded by the national authorities.
 Same questionnaire.
Country
Reference sample
size
Final sample size
–after boost
Slovenia 750 1,050
Spain 2,250 3,150
United Kingdom 2,250 4,250