Thursday, April 11, 2013

EU-OSHA explores occupational safety and health risks associated with 'green jobs'


With emerging technologies and processes in green technology, the pressure is on to help protect and restore the environment.  As the EU prepares for an influx of ‘green jobs,’ the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) investigates the implications or risks of green jobs for workers’ health and safety. 

With the publication of a new Foresight report, EU-OSHA attempts to identify new or emerging risks in occupational safety and health.

The report, ‘Green jobs and occupational safety and health: Foresight on new and emerging risks associated with new technologies by 2020’, identifies possible future scenarios and predicts how work in green jobs would likely develop by 2020. It also explores what future occupational safety and health challenges may develop, given advances in green technologies, and a variety of different social and economic conditions. 

 “The scenarios developed through our Foresight project are powerful tools, which will provide policymakers in the EU with insights on how to shape the green economy of tomorrow to keep Europe’s workers safe and healthy. If they are to be truly sustainable, and if they are to contribute to the EU2020 Strategy’s objectives of achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, we need to make sure that green jobs provide safe, healthy and decent working conditions,” EU-OSHA Director Christa Sedlatschek says.

The report and summary are available on EU-OSHA's website in a new section dedicated to occupational safety and health risks in the green economy.