27/05/2025
From risk to resilience: EU-OSHA’s vision for safer workplaces across Europe
© EU-OSHA
William Cockburn, EU-OSHA Executive Director, shares a strategic overview of the agency’s efforts to improve occupational safety and health (OSH) in Europe in an engaging interview with Margaret Kirby of the Health and Safety Review, a media partner.
One of the highlights of the conversation is the next edition of the Healthy Workplaces Campaign (HWC), set to launch in 2026. The campaign will spotlight mental health and psychosocial risks, particularly in often-overlooked sectors such as agriculture and healthcare. The Executive Director emphasises the growing importance of addressing stress and time pressure in modern workplaces, drawing on findings from EU-OSHA’s latest European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER), which identifies these as top concerns across industries.
Mr. Cockburn also sheds light on the unique challenges facing micro and small enterprises, where half of Europe’s workforce is employed. He outlines the agency’s categorisation of these businesses into ‘learners’, ‘reactors’ and ‘avoiders’, stressing the critical role of national safety inspectors in helping all businesses engage with OSH, citing success stories like the ‘Øresund Bridge’ project as examples of effective collaboration.
The Executive Director goes on to underscore EU-OSHA’s long-term strategy, which centres on fostering strong safety cultures through awareness-raising initiatives, such as the HWC, currently focused on digitalisation, and the Good Practice Awards. This year, the Awards recognised 34 European finalists, with Ireland achieving one winning and one commended case, coming from Midleton Distillery and Intel Corporation, respectively. The strategy also prioritises the development of accessible tools like OiRA (Online interactive Risk Assessment) and the use of robust research to inform policy decisions. ‘ is at the core of [safety] culture’, Mr. Cockburn notes, underlining that good employer-worker relationships are vital to the success of both new technologies and broader safety and health initiatives.