A seminar on the topic of “Enabling healthy workplaces in the age of digitalisation” was held from 3-5 September 2025 in Bilbao, Spain. The seminar was organised by NBH (Nell-Breuning-Haus) in close cooperation with EU-OSHA (European Agency for Safety and Health at Work) and EZA. EZA is an official campaign partner of the EU-OSHA campaign “Safe and healthy work in the digital age”. The seminar was funded by the European Union.
45 representatives of workers’ organisations from Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Belgium, Spain and Germany gathered information on the EU Strategic Framework for Health and Safety at Work 2021-2027 and gained insights into the various EU-OSHA campaigns on digitalisation, artificial intelligence and work-related, health and psychosocial risks.
Safe and healthy workplaces have always been a core aspect of social dialogue. This relates to the important aspects of the balance between work and leisure, physical integrity in the workplace, psychosocial stress at work and in private life, exclusion and isolation in the overall social context. In the age of rapid digitalisation and the pervasive aspect of AI in work, leisure and society, new health risks for workplaces are emerging that extend far beyond the workplace. The dependence on digitally controlled processes is also leading to new situations of loneliness in the diverse areas of life and work. However, in addition to these aspects, it could be that digitalisation and AI development offer opportunities to keep jobs healthy. Examples of this are easing the burden of physically demanding work, solving complex, even intellectual, tasks, or using AI in medicine and medical diagnostics. Control by humans is an important and fundamental aspect. EU-OSHA presented key campaigns, research reports, surveys and findings on digitalisation, robotics and AI.
This seminar was particularly relevant now, as digitalisation has infiltrated all the areas of our lives. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly accelerating this development. While the economy has been adapting its business practices and actions to digitalisation for some time and has achieved high profits in Europe and globally, even to the detriment of working people, workers’ organisations must quickly catch up to identify and act to implement adapted employment and collective agreements regarding health and safety in the workplace. The EU 2021-2027 Strategic Framework for Safety and Health at Work of course exists, but these agreements must also be implemented, and the social partners must also be able to implement them. However, it is regrettable that the EU has placed social dialogue second in its political action. Time is therefore of the essence.
Themes of the seminar
Dr. Dietmar Elsler (EU-OSHSA): Examples: “Vision Zero” in safety at work. A concept for creating a world without work-related accidents and illnesses, with the highest priority on the prevention of deaths and serious injuries. This will be achieved by promoting a comprehensive culture of prevention and the implementation of measures that assist companies to achieve greater levels of safety. In 2017, the International Social Security Association (ISSA) adopted the Vision Zero prevention strategy as a global approach. 7 objectives: Live leadership, recognise danger – avert danger, define goals – draw up program, well organised – with system, machines, technology, facilities – safe and healthy, knowledge creates security, motivate through participation. The ESENER Survey 2024 on emerging risks, for example, is a comprehensive survey on digital devices in the workplace in the EU: PCs, notebooks, tablets, smart watches for operating machinery, robotics and AI. In 2019, these technologies were used in 4% of cases. These had risen to 25% by 2024. This is resulting in psychosocial problems such as time pressure due to AI, irregular working hours due to working from home or platform work, which in turn is increasing the rate of cardiovascular diseases. In the “Bologna model”, workers’ representatives have reached an agreement with local delivery services and the city of Bologna to prevent exploitation, guarantee rest periods, implement transparent working hours and to ensure that AI can be managed and understood.
Jose Ignacio Argote (CEAT Spain) stated that the safety and health of workers is one of the pillars of European labour and social law. The European framework directive on safety and health at work (Directive 89/391/EEC), adopted in 1989, represented an important milestone in improving safety and health of workers at work. This directive established minimum requirements for safety and health protection which are applicable throughout Europe. However, the EU has made very little progress in improving labour and social protection.
Silviu Ispas (IFES Romania) highlighted that, although the situation regarding occupational safety laws, regulations, etc. in the EU countries is good and the EU directive has been implemented by all countries, neither the number of work accidents and occupational diseases nor the cost of treatments have decreased.
Vibe Westh (EU-OSHA): All 45,000 EU companies that were surveyed in the EU-OSHA 2019-2024 enterprise survey (ESENER) on safety and health at work indicated the use of digital tools. The introduction of these tools and the psychosocial risks (excessive workload, fear of job loss, eye and back pain, digital bullying, violence, including from third parties such as customers and patients) were also reported by approx. 25% of workers. The role of EU-OSHA as a European agency is to use information and recommendations to ensure psychosocial health in the workplace. Companies (management) and workers must therefore identify risks and implement preventative measures in a transparent process.
Ioannis Anyfantis (EU-OSHA): In Europe, roughly 5% of automation systems, machines and robots are controlled by AI. 3% of these interact with the workers. Examples include companies that manufacture machinery and tools. Interaction takes place using 3D glasses. 23,000 additional robots were deployed between 2022 and 2024 in the European automotive industry alone. Digitalisation and AI can also have an unburdening effect. For example: In wood mills, the individual planks are cut by digital machinery. The monitoring and control are carried out from an office. The worker does not therefore suffer the effects of noise, dust and dirt. This will attract young people back to the workplace.
Annick Starren (EU-OSHA) reported on the smart monitoring systems to monitor health and risks/hazards. Mobile AI sensors are used to monitor elements like noise, dust, chemicals and oxygen levels, for example, and to avert danger to life and limb. Smart glasses, smartphone apps, drones and cameras also help reduce risk and hazards. Data security is important. It is essential that workers cannot be personally identified and monitored with respect to their work performance. At the same time, the transparency of the data and recommendations must be maintained. Pilot projects are designed to allow workers to test the smart monitoring systems and to discuss their experiences and benefits.
Martiniano Blázquez Hernández (CEAT Spain) noted that Bilbao is a city with the highest per capita income, and is considered a role model for ecology and new technologies for the whole of Spain. Authorities, schools, trade unions and society work very well together, which is a prerequisite for providing healthy and safe workplaces in the digital age. A Spanish law exists called: "Right to disconnect", which is a type of “digital fiesta”.
Doc. Ing. L’ubica Černá PhD (NKOS Slovak Republic) stated that workers in the Slovak Republic were experiencing increased isolation. “False” self-employment takes place in home offices. Home workers have no labour or social protection and are unaware of the right to disconnect, and this raises their psychosocial vulnerability enormously. The occupational health and safety of the Slovak Republic for 2021-2027 aims to achieve a precise collection of data on occupational health and safety under the name "Save enterprises". A second program, "Responsible employers," is designed to help employers implement effective personnel management practices. Digital monitoring is a major issue which should be controlled more efficiently within the "Save enterprises” framework.
Marian Apostol (Cartel Alfa Romania) noted that working from home is a key issue in Romania, with hybrid work being preferred, i.e., a partial presence in both the home and office. Those working from home are 25-35 years old. Approx. 50% of the Romanian population lives in overcrowded apartments. This makes a home office very difficult, and can trigger psychosocial stress and illnesses. Clear work instructions and good technical equipment are not always available.
Veselin Mitov (PODKREPA Bulgaria): A law granting the right to disconnect has been implemented in Bulgaria. The social council has ruled a program for digitalisation, new business start-ups, occupational health and safety and additional training on the topic. Finally, all the regulations will also be discussed with the trade unions.
Mara Erdelj (RS BOFOS Serbia) talked about the human dimension. BOFOS has been organising walking through the world with a smile, exercise, sports, dancing and music for decades. Education and awareness campaigns on musculoskeletal disorders and psychosocial stress in the workplace caused by digitalisation are also conducted regularly. She has also been organising a sporting event for her members for the past 23 years.
María José Rodriguez Ramos (Uni Sevilla): We should not be afraid of new developments. This has been happening for centuries. Digitalisation has developed gradually, along with new areas of employment. However, the introduction of AI is changing the involvement of workers and workers’ representatives in their dialogue with companies. It is therefore essential for trade unions to provide information about risks and artificial intelligence. For example, older people struggle to adapt to new technologies. Nevertheless, digitalisation is increasingly showing positive characteristics, such as in medical research and diagnostics or in elderly and nursing care.
Cesar Rodríguez Pérez (CEAT Spain) feared that lifelong learning will now be taken over by AI and that people will therefore have to rely on the ‘insights’ of AI. Job losses could ensue, and the trade unions must have some control over this. Trade unions are also subject to digitalisation and must develop new skills.
Florin Hossu (Cartel Alfa Maramures Romania) was however in favour of lifelong learning. AI and digitalisation are only intended to relieve workers of the most arduous work processes. However, these developments can lead to health problems such as back problems and deterioration in the cardiovascular system in the long term. This does not only affect adults. The right to disconnect should therefore also apply to children.
Findings / consequences
Digitalisation and AI can be a gift. But it is also a Trojan horse.
Social partners, notably the trade unions, must urgently monitor and control the situation.
For their part, the unions have a great deal of catching up to do in terms of understanding digitalisation and AI and to translate them in a meaningful way into new laws and collective agreements on wages, labour protection and health insurance. They must also adapt their own organisation to the new technologies. The seminar on the topic was very important and insightful for the trade union representatives, because it enabled them to participate in the current campaigns, findings and recommendations of EU-OSHA which they will now implement in their own work. EU-OSHA publications on its web platforms also provide extensive information for trade union action in social dialogue and mutual exchanges. The attendees expressed great interest in exploring this topic in more depth in future seminars. The EU countries may be very diverse, but they all face the same challenges regarding digitalisation and AI. Overall, the unions have a positive view of these new developments. The negative developments are clear, but so too are the good opportunities, in particular for working people. This is essentially about people. They are the focus. They can manage change and influence it in a positive way. Positive thinking is essential.