A project was organised on the “European Pillar of Social Rights: Promoting the health and safety of workers as a fundamental right” took place in the EZA academic year, which was organised under the leadership of CFTL (Centro de Formação e Tempos Livres), and which also involved other EZA member centres, namely LOC/MTC (Liga Operária Católica - Movimento de Trabalhadores Cristãos), FIDESTRA (Associação para a Formação, Investigação e Desenvolvimento Social dos Trabalhadores) in Portugal, USO - CCFAS (Unión Sindical Obrera - Centro Confederal de Formación y Acción Social), CEAT (Centro Español para Asuntos de los Trabajadores) in Spain, CFTC (Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens) in France and IFES (Institutul de Formare Economică şi Socială) in Romania. As part of this project, a first meeting was held on 8 November 2024, a second on 13 February 2025 and a final meeting took place on 1 March 2025.
This report contains the main ideas and recommendations on which participants in the individual countries reached a consensus on the points considered to be critical.
1.1. Accidents at work and occupational diseases - recommendations:
1. The debates on social security reforms that are taking place in certain countries including Portugal and France, should also take the arduousness and severity of the respective work and the reduction of the retirement age and working hours, as these issues are closely linked.
2. Legislation on the prevention of occupational hazards must be reviewed, particularly with respect to gender, age and mental health problems. However, in some countries, such as Portugal, the list of occupational diseases must also be updated and improvements must be made to legislation on compensation for accidents at work, particularly by adjusting pensions for accident victims to the national minimum wage.
3. In several countries, notably Portugal and Spain, the mechanisms for reporting and certifying occupational diseases must be improved.
4. Agreement must be reached on the concept of ‘occupational burnout’ and ‘rapid occupational burnout’, which several professional sectors are demanding, particularly in Portugal.
5. There is an urgent need to harmonise statistics on accidents at work and occupational diseases and the systems for reporting, certifying and compensating such accidents at a European level.
6. We must conduct national surveys on working conditions, which are extremely important tools for implementing appropriate preventive measures. Assist and support universities to carry out studies on working conditions.
7. Improve health and safety services for micro and small businesses within the framework of the national health service or even regulate them as is the case in Portugal.
1.2. Legislation: Review and implementation to confront new challenges - recommendations:
1. Simplification by improving European legislation and regulations in the area of prevention, considering the new challenges.
2. Improve official inspection and prevention services so that legislation can be implemented in the workplace. It is crucial to use human and financial resources to strengthen the labour inspectorate to significantly increase the number of visits to the workplace.
While cultural and educational work is important, it is vital that employers feel they will be penalised if they maintain dangerous and unhealthy working conditions that harm economic competition and humane work!
1.3. Psychosocial risks, digitalisation and AI - recommendations:
1. Psychosocial risks, in particular stress and harassment, must be taken into account when revising European and national legislation. All the countries must urgently ratify ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment at work.
2. These problems must be publicised, particularly by the media and the trade union press.
3. The prevention of psychosocial risks must be promoted in collective bargaining and negotiators must be prepared in this respect.
4. We must fight to prevent precarious working conditions and low wages.
5. Reduction in working hours, digital shutdown, access to hotlines and psychological support.
6. Improve labour inspections with technical and inspection personnel who are trained in the prevention of psychosocial risks.
1.4 Training, counselling, awareness-raising and information on health and safety - recommendations:
1. The public administration must promote and support mandatory training measures for occupational health and safety.
2. The public administration and other bodies must work to raise awareness and to launch information campaigns for all citizens, notably in the media and in social networks.
3. Trade unions must include mandatory training and increased information and counselling of workers in collective bargaining.
4. The election of health and safety representatives must be simplified as it is currently far too bureaucratic.
5. It would be vital to create incentives, which must be examined, to renew and support the joint committees for safety, hygiene and health at work.
1.5. The role of public administration and the EU - recommendations
1. Strengthen and support the modernisation of public policy in the area of occupational health and safety with more technical and financial resources;
2. Strengthen the support of social security and pension funds for prevention, as this is an important investment and not a cost;
3. Support for the demand from trade unions for EU regulation on stress, AI and musculoskeletal disorders;
4. Organise public campaigns to consolidate the culture of occupational risk prevention and health and safety as a fundamental right.
1.6. The role of workers’ organisations - recommendations:
1. Make the fundamental right to a safe and healthy working environment a priority for trade unions;
2. Extend the information and counselling services for workers through collective bargaining, in particular by allowing more time for workers’ representatives to take action in the field of health and safety;
3. Upgrade the training of trade union leaders and activists;
4. Demand for the involvement of workers‘ organisations when defining public measures to prevent and promote workers’ health and safety as a fundamental right.
5. Reduce bureaucracy and simplify legislation for the election of workers’ representatives for occupational health and safety.
6. Implement a legal obligation to set up occupational health and safety committees in companies with over 50 employees, particularly in Portugal. The USO in Spain now requires this for companies with more than 25 employees.
1.7. Risk prevention in the healthcare sector - recommendations:
1. Introduce occupational health and safety services throughout the health, public, private and social sectors, preferably in-house or jointly, with an adequate number of professionals, including occupational health and safety professionals;
2. Ensure the quality of care facilities that provide adequate warmth and good lighting in the workplace and dedicated spaces for workers.
3. Establish preventative plans to avoid biological, chemical, radiological and psychosocial risks.
Key critical issues in the prevention and promotion of occupational health and safety that require urgent action
In terms of accidents at work, it is important to improve legislation to acknowledge the new challenges of digitalisation, AI, psychosocial problems and climate change. Preventive measures in small and medium-sized enterprises and actions for temporary and precarious workers are still extremely difficult to implement in practice.
Several issues have been raised regarding occupational illnesses, but we believe that the most critical issues are the documentation and lack of documentation of such illnesses and the increasing number of musculoskeletal disorders, which are the most common occupational illnesses in the EU alongside occupational cancer, and which affect women in particular. Action is required at an EU level to ensure we implement appropriate measures in all countries.
An assessment of psychosocial risks is still not widespread in companies, public services and the social sector. The identification and assessment of psychosocial risks must be improved and we must promote appropriate preventive measures, particularly for stress, burnout and bullying. We must bear Convention 190 of the ILO in mind at all times.
Although health and safety training is provided in all countries, it is often insufficient (more theoretical than practical) and should be mandatory in all companies in the EU.
Conclusion
It is undeniable that the major social, political and economic actors responsible for promoting a safe and healthy working environment in the EU have continued to develop their measures to implement improvements and fresh progress. However, no significant progress has been made in recent years in terms of social dialogue in the countries participating in this working group.
It is true that the impetus of the European Pillar of Social Rights eight years ago and the ILO Declaration on Health and Safety at Work as a Fundamental Right established in 2022 have failed to date to have the necessary impact on the economy, including the public sector! The last social agreement on this topic in Portugal was signed by all social partners in 2001. The national strategy for occupational health and safety, which arose from the EU strategy 2021-2027 and was promised for 2023, has still not been implemented.
In Spain, a revision of the legal system for prevention is currently being explored to take account of the changes in the world of work and the new challenges in the area of occupational health and safety.
This issue is not currently a priority in the EU in general, and many trade union leaders fear a social step backwards in view of the political context and the reallocation of EU funds and investment.
However, the decisive factor could be the low level of investment by companies in this area. This applies less to large companies that have already established a safety and even health culture, but the small and medium-sized companies have failed to invest in decent wages and working conditions to ensure they remain competitive on the global market.
The result is a very large proportion of self-employed workers, undeclared labourers and migrants who work as subcontractors in hazardous and unhygienic conditions and who are denied this basic right. More troubling is that thousands of these workers do not belong to a trade union.
We must therefore make huge efforts in the future to boost workers’ organisations and to increase the network of EZA centres. More investment must be made in the political and technical training of leaders and activists, particularly among the younger generations.
Investment is also required to disseminate information and raise awareness around health and safety in the workplace, publications, blogs, videos, etc.
For an educational network like EZA which is committed to the Christian values of solidarity, fraternity and the promotion of life, working to promote safety in the workplace and the sustainability of health and life is undoubtedly a priority task that has a bright future!