Risk observatory

The Risk Observatory is based in the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) and aims at providing:

* an overview of health at work in Europe,
* a description of the trends and underlying factors,
* a description of the risk factors,
* an anticipation of changes in work and their likely consequences on health.

By doing so the Observatory intends in particular to draw attention on new and emerging risks and enable to set up preventive action.

These monitoring and forecasting activities are based, as far as possible, on the collection, analysis and consolidation of existing hard data from national and international data sources (see description in [http://riskobservatory.osha.europa.eu/osm/ monitoring systems] ) such as:
* Labour Force surveys,
* Workers surveys,
* Accident registers,
* Registers on occupational diseases,
* Death registers,
* Exposure registers.

Beyond the collation of hard data, the Observatory also provides more qualitative information to support the identification of new and "emerging risks". This information is mainly based on expert forecast and research reviews but can extend to other sources such as information collected by control bodies.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) is responsible for the management of the Observatory and the consolidation of the data. External contractors and an EU wide network of national institutes that contribute to the collection and to the analysis of the data support the Agency in its mission.

Methodology

Sources of the data

The data collection is based on existing and available sources. All data have been collected from published and online available statistical sources. Existing tables and graphics have been used in this presentation. Not all sources present the data in a similar way or combine the same breakdown criteria, as a result of which the data are difficult to compare.

Where available, efforts have been made to use the raw data sources, which are then treated according to the expected output. This is for example the case for the data from the European Working Conditions Survey (with regard to European and Belgian data), the occupational diseases statistics in Belgium and the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study. (check SF and NL).

The sources are both statistical and analytical background documents. The statistical sources are a combination of administrative registers and statistics (occupational disease registers, exposure registers), surveys, voluntary reporting systems and inspection reports. A global risk picture can thus be presented by combining different sources.

Administrative data sources

Accidents at work

The European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) have been used to collect statistical data on accidents at work. The statistics are available from year 1994 onwards. They allow a uniform presentation for European and Member State statistics and a comparison between the Member State statistics.

A harmonized methodology for the data collection has been created. Information is collected on the following variables: economic activity of the employer, occupation of the victim, age and sex of the victim, type of injury, part of body injured, time of the accident, size of the enterprise, employment status of the victim and days lost. Phase 3 of the ESAW methodology is gradually implemented from reference year 2001 onwards, in addition to the variables above it includes information concerning the circumstances and events leading to the accidents.

The details of the ESAW methodology are described in " [http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/publications/2002/ke4202569_en.html European statistics on accidents at work (ESAW) - Methodology - 2001 edition] ”- European Communities- Directorate General Employment and social affairs series - Catalogue No KE-36-019-60EN-C” A resume of the concepts and the coverage of the data can also be found in [http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&p_product_code=KS-57-04-807 Work and health in the EU. A statistical portrait 1994-2002] -European Communities – Eurostat – Catalogue No KS-57-04-807-EN-N.

Occupational diseases

Both the European Statistics on Occupational Diseases (ESOD) and the national data sources have been used to collect statistical data on occupational diseases. The project on European Statistics on Occupational Diseases (EODS) started with a pilot data collection for the reference year 1995 and the first data according to the Phase 1 methodology was collected for the year 2001.

The Phase 1 methodology of EODS includes detailed information on the causative agent of the occupational diseases and collection of information on the use purpose of these causative agents is planned as well. The main drawback of both of these data collection systems is that not all workers are covered by the national data collection systems in all the Member States. For occupational disease problems arise also from under-reporting and differences between the national social security systems.

Exposure registers

An alternative to concentrating on the occurrence of disease is to monitor exposures. An exposure register records data relevant to occupational health and safety outcomes. It is different from a disease register in that it concentrates on workplace exposures rather than the disorders they may cause.

The measurement services of the institutions for statutory accident insurance and prevention (BGs) in Germany perform exposure measurements at workplaces. The data are stored in the BG/BIA exposure database.

Voluntary reporting of occupational diseases by specialist doctors

Sentinel surveillance uses a network of health providers to report cases of occupational diseases. This approach is similar to a register of occupational diseases, but there are some important differences. Sentinel networks may not try to achieve total coverage and can operate in a restricted geographical area or involve a sample of physicians.

In the UK, the THOR project is responsible for the collection of specialist-based work-related ill-health data. The scheme relies on the systematic, voluntary and confidential reporting of new cases by consultant thoracic physicians throughout the country. Regular reports are required from physicians detailing the number of new cases in each of 10 diagnostic categories and individual data for each case on age, sex, place of residence, type of work and suspected agent. The Occupational Surveillance Scheme for Audiologists (OSSA) operates within the THOR network.

Inspections

In some countries the medical inspections carried out by the labour inspectorate play an essential role in ensuring that laws and regulations governing workers’ health surveillance are properly applied.

The Arbomonitor in the Netherlands provides representative information on the state of affairs of working conditions in Dutch companies: risks, policies and (preventive) practices. The information is gathered through the Labour Inspection on their company visits.

ee also

EU-OSHA

External links

* [http://riskobservatory.osha.europa.eu Risk Observatory Website] , from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)
* [http://osha.europa.eu/publications/factsheets/68 Expert forecast on Emerging Biological Risks related to Occupational Safety and Health]