The “Safe and healthy work in the digital age” seminar took place in Băile Felix, between May 22nd and 25th 2025. It was organized by CSDR / Departamentul Educare - Formare al CSDR (Confederaţia Sindicatelor Democratice din România / Departamentul Educare - Formare al Confederaţiei Sindicatelor, in cooperation with EZA and funded by the European Union.
The seminar featured in person and online attendance, as well as remote / online interpretation. It was attended by 41 representatives of workers’ organisations, 40 in person and 1 online, from Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova.
Important topics discussed during the seminar:
The digital era is a reality and it influences our daily lives bringing numerous benefits, whilst generating several concerns for cyber security.
The debates highlighted the numerous benefits of digitalization as well as the challenges to which we need to ident appropriate solutions to mitigate possible deviations caused by automation and digitalization concerning workplace health and safety.
Digitalization is definitely beneficial as it provides a safe and healthy environment for workers by reducing their exposure to hazardous or unhealthy work conditions which are taken over, through automation, by robots.
At the same time, in sensitive areas, such as nuclear power plants, flight control, train traffic control, cruise control, assistance by an automatic system provides more coherence, safety and significantly reduces the number of labour accidents.
In medicine, the human factor is essential, but supported by o computer, it provides safety and finesse especially for surgical interventions.
The benefits are obvious and numerous, hence the debates dwelled upon the impact that digitalization produces on the labour market, in work relations and at social level as concerns professional health and safety.
The goals of the seminar were:
To what extent can we consider digitalization as an active factor in ensuring work places for workers in your country;
To what extent has digitalization reduced the number of labour accidents among workers in your country;
Are unions involved in the process of supporting the process of work automation, without affecting jobs, for occupational safety and health?
The findings of the seminar:
Occupational safety and health are one of the main objectives of trade unions.
In the context of the aging workforce, its lack in certain areas of activity, digitalization must ensure safe and healthy workplace conditions and compensate for its deficient needs.
At the same time, education, in the process of training the workforce, must adapt its learning programs in accordance with the changing profile and requirements of new jobs, taking into account and interdependently with the effects of digitalization.
Trade unions must advocate for safe and healthy workplaces but also monitor the quality of life of workers by supporting properly paid jobs.
Well-supported digitalization can ensure increased labour efficiency and productivity, which means more profitable results.
In this context, of the digital age, it becomes necessary to preserve jobs and stimulate the emergence of new jobs that ensure a fair balance in the labour market between supply and demand and that reduce unemployment and social exclusion.