News

Digitalisation is revolutionising the nature, location and modes of work. However, less than one in four companies in the EU are discussing the implications of digital technologies for workers’ safety and health. EU-OSHA’s recently launched Healthy Workplaces ‘Safe and healthy work in the digital age’ Campaign, is the largest occupational safety and health (OSH) campaign in the world, involving hundreds of partners. Taking place until 2025, it aims to increase awareness on the subject following a series of key milestones.

A campaign structured by priority areas

The campaign is divided in five priority areas which cover specific topics related to digitalisation in the workplace. Each priority area will be the main focus of the campaign for several months. The first one, launching in February 2024, is Digital platform work is all paid work provided through, on or mediated by an online platform – that is, an online marketplace operating on digital technologies that facilitate the matching of demand for and supply of labour. and explores paid work provided through online platforms with a view to ensuring the safety of its workers. In June, the spotlight will be on the Use of systems or technical procedures to allow a device or system to execute (partially or fully) a function that was previously, or conceivably could be, carried out (partially or fully) by a human. of cognitive and physical tasks. Remote and hybrid work, which has become part of the daily lives of many people since COVID-19, will be examined from October.

In February 2025, worker management though (AI) AI refers to systems that display intelligent behaviour by analysing their environment and taking actions – with some degree of autonomy – to achieve specific goals. AI-based systems can be purely software-based, acting in the virtual world (e.g. voice assistants, image analysis software, search engines, speech and face recognition systems) or AI can be embedded in hardware devices (e.g. advanced robots, autonomous cars, drones or Internet of things applications). will be analysed to discover the potential of this technology to organise work, always with a focus on placing workers at its centre. Umbrella term to indicate digital systems for monitoring and enhancing workers’ safety and health including for example smart PPE (that can identify levels of gases, toxins, noise levels and high-risk temperatures), wearables (able to interact with workers, with sensors that may be embedded in hardhats or safety glasses), mobile or static systems that use cameras and sensors (e.g. drones that effectively reach and monitor dangerous areas of work sites avoiding to put humans in danger in the construction and the mining industries). such as Wearables are electronic devices with sensors and computational capacity (e.g. smart watches, data glasses, or other devices with embedded sensors or tags), which can be placed on different body parts to gather data to be fed into other digital systems for processing purposes. They can be used to analyse physiological and psychological data such as feelings, sleep, movements, heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure, via applications either installed on the device itself or on external devices, such as smartphones connected to the cloud. , tech-based personal protective equipment, sensors and e-tools and their opportunities to improve worker safety and health will then close the campaign from June 2025.

Rewarding outstanding practices: Healthy Workplaces Good Practice Awards

The awards recognise organisations that demonstrate outstanding and innovative approaches to workplace safety and health. The competition has just started and focal points will be first assessing the applications at national level – check out the deadlines by country here. After that, up to two examples per country will be selected and judged by a pan-European jury. Winning and commended entries will be announced in April 2025, and a ceremony honouring them will take place in November 2025 during the Healthy Workplaces Summit.

Our partners: the backbone of HWC

The campaign would not be possible without our group of partners: national focal points, media partners, Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) OSH ambassadors and official campaign partners. For the latter, the full list will be announced in early 2024, as applications are open until 20 December. Becoming a campaign partner offers multiple opportunities to expand an organisation’s network and discover innovative ways to ensure worker wellbeing, including the participation in the Healthy Workplaces Good Practice Exchange Event taking place in Spring 2025.

Two years full of activities

A multitude of events covering a wide variety of angles related to OSH and digitalisation are organised by our partners across Europe. The European Week for Safety and Health at Work unites the European occupational safety and health community annually in October. The 2023 edition has just closed with great success.

As a reminder…

Check out the visual timeline with the milestones.

Applications to become an official campaign partner are open until 20 December – explore the partnership benefits!

Is your organisation making innovative contributions to workplace safety and health? We are looking for success stories for the Good Practice Awards. 

Stay up to date by taking a look at the Healthy Workplaces Campaign news section, subscribing to the newsletter and following #EUhealthyworkplaces on Facebook, X and LinkedIn.