Category: Healthy Workplaces Campaign

EU OSHA award to FEES

info Leave a comment

The Federation of European Ergonomic Societies (FEES) has been awarded for its continued contribution and commitment towards the Healthy Workplace Campaign of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

The Healthy Workplaces Campaigns have been running since 2000, and several topics highlighted the importance of good ergonomic design as the best way for risk prevention, e.g.

  • 2000: Turn your back on musculoskeletal disorders
  • 2007: Lighten the load (Musculoskeletal disorders)
  • 2016 – 2017: Healthy Workplaces for All Ages

When the campaign partner scheme was installed, FEES decided to dedicate the European Month of Ergonomics to the Healthy Workplace Campaign. For ten years, we have been communicating campaign messages along with adequate ergonomics content every October.

Christa Sedlatschek, EU-OSHA Director, and Kasia Jurczak, Member of Cabinet of Commissioner Marianne Thyssenand, handled the Campaign Partner certificate and award to FEES, represented by Gyula Szabó, chair of the Communication and Promotion Committee, at the Exchange of good practices in OSH Healthy Workplaces Campaign Partner event, Brussels, 5 – 6 March 2019. 

Click on the link to read the full report of the Good Practice Exchange event 2019: Campaign partners share their thoughts on the Healthy Workplaces campaign, including a FEES interview.

Thanks to the commitment of individual ergonomicists around Europe, to the joint effort of national ergonomics societies and OSHA focal points, and to FEES’s partnership with EU OSHA, ergonomics is well represented in campaign activities. The regular EU-OSHA campaign partner meetings create further opportunities to represent ergonomics in the OSH community. 

We are ready to continue with the upcoming campaign to prevent musculoskeletal disorders.

ERGONOMIST TO MANAGE DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES BETTER

info Leave a comment

The “Manage Dangerous Substances” EU-OSHA workplace health and safety campaign was launched on April 2018 and following traditions the Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES) become an official campaign partner again.

FEES dedicates the 2018 / 19 European Month of Ergonomics – “ERGONOMIST TO MANAGE DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES BETTER” to identify, elaborate and demonstrate how ergonomic profession can contribute to the healthy and safe handling of hazardous substances.

FEES encourages ergonomist and their networks or organisations to join in, organise events, sessions, press conferences, communicate and promote the ergonomics profession capabilities.

The Communication and Promotion Committee of FEES calls educational institutions to initiate research and development programs, in particular student projects, master thesis and PhD works to produce solutions of high ergonomics quality in regard of management of hazardous substances, and submit these result to the The Healthy Workplaces Good Practice Awards

FEES campaign activity has begun May 24, 2018, in Poznan at the Polish Ergonomics Society seminar, when Gyula Szabó, chair of Communication and Promotion Committee of FEES presented the initial EME communication package. The “ERGONOMIST TO MANAGE DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES BETTER” ppt presentation downloadable from this page, and can be used at EME related activity in October at the EME period, and around the year when feasible.

EME_2018_v_1Download

Official campaign partner meeting 2017

info Leave a comment

As part of the 2016-2017 Healthy Workplaces for All Ages campaign of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) an Official campaign partner meeting was held, where results of the campaign partner category of Healthy Workplaces Good Practice Awards was presented

As part of the 2016-2017 Healthy Workplaces for All Ages campaign of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) an Official campaign partner meeting was held, where results of the campaign partner category of Healthy Workplaces Good Practice Awards was presented. FEES at OSHA

To achive a sustainable working life and to prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) arising from sedentary desk-based work. campaign partner SAP started a program and received the award for the initiative ‘Run Your Health’ that empowers employees of all ages to take action for their health. Thanks to the program the participants reported:

  • a 100 % increase in regular exercise
  • a 30 % increase in the number of steps recorded per month
  • a 56 % reduction in sedentary time.

Link for details: GPA_2016-17_OCP_Winner_SAP.pdf

Campaign partner Toyota Material Handling was commended for a physiotherapy programme to prevent strain injuries at work and to deliver measurable change across partner companies. They took action to prevent strain injuries at work:
following an in-depth analysis of accident data, as well as consultations with service technicians, poor manual handling practices were identified as the primary cause of injuries; therefore, the company developed a physiotherapy programme. Some results achieved

  • In the last 2 years, accidents through overstrain have more than halved.
  • The proportion of employees who took leave of absence as a result of an accident decreased from 20 % in 2006 to 5 % in 2014.
  • Since undergoing treatment with the physiotherapist, none of the employees who experienced overstrain injuries has experienced a similar injury.

Link for details GPA_2016-17_OCP_Commended_Toyota_Material_Handling.pdf (378.14 KB)

On the photo Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Karoly Gyorgy, chair of the EU-OSHA Governing Borad (left) and Gyula Szabo (right) with the certificate that recognises the Federation of the European Ergonomics Societies as an Official Camapign Partner.
FEES at OSHA

Mois européen de l’ergonomie EME 2016-2017 – l’ergonomie pour tous les âges

info Leave a comment

Pour les années 2016/2017, Federation of the European Ergonomics Societies (FEES) a décidé de nouveau de soutenir la campagne annuelle ”pour des lieux de travail sûrs” menée par l’Agence européenne pour la santé sécurité au travail (EU-OSHA).

Le thème de cette nouvelle campagne est “Des lieux de travail favorables au maintien de la santés pour tous les âges – Promouvoir une vie de travail soutenable“. Une partie importante de cette campagne est dédiée à l’adaptation du travail et des situations de travail aux travailleurs. Ce sujet est tout particulièrement intéressant pour les ergonomes, dont c’est un des principaux domaines d’expertise. FEES est également un partenaire officiel de l’Agence européenne EU-OSHA.

C’est pourquoi la campagne annuelle de FEES, le Mois européen de l’ergonomie (EME) en 2016-2017 est dédiée à cette question autour du thème “L’ergonomie pour tous les âges“. Le but de cette campagne est de démontrer le potentiel de l’ergonomie pour promouvoir une vie au travail soutenable et, de ce fait, la possibilité d’une coopération entre les ergonomes et les experts en santé sécurité au travail pour travailler ensemble cette question.
La campagne de l’Agence européenne EU-OSHA ”Être bien sur les lieux de travail quel que soit l’âge” a pour objectif de mettre en évidence et de traiter l’enjeu que constitue le vieillissement de la force de travail. L’accent sera mis non seulement sur le vieillissement des travailleurs mais aussi sur la situation des travailleurs à tous les âges en soulignant l’importance d’une approche tout au long de la vie. Le déploiement de pratiques de travail sûres chez les jeunes travailleurs et le développement de bonnes conditions de travail permettent de promouvoir un travail soutenable tout au long de la vie professionnelle et d’assurer un vieillissement en bonne santé (voir www.healthy-workplaces.eu.)

La campagne de l’agence européenne EU-OSHA aborde cette question de manière globale en mettant l’accent sur les questions de management de la santé et de la sécurité au travail, liées au travail soutenable et au vieillissement en bonne santé, telles que le leadership et la participation, l’évaluation des risques prenant en compte la diversité, l’adaptation des situations de travail aux travailleurs, la prévention du handicap et la réadaptation, la coopération avec le management des ressources humaines, la promotion de la santé sur les lieux de travail, l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie, etc. La campagne de FEES devra, du point de vue des ergonomes, attirer tout particulièrement l’attention sur les principes de l’ergonomie, tels que l’adaptation des situations de travail et de l’activité de travail aux capacités des travailleurs.
La raison essentielle des problèmes de santé liés au travail réside dans les mauvaises conditions de travail qui, le plus souvent, peuvent être attribuées à une conception du travail qui ne prend pas en considération les principes de l’ergonomie. C’est seulement si ces principes sont mis en oeuvre qu’un travail sûr et enrichissant sur le plan de la santé pourra être mis en place. Par ailleurs, si l’ergonomie est laissée de côté dans la conception des situations de travail, il peut être difficile, coûteux ou même impossible de mettre en place par la suite de bonnes conditions de travail au moyen de mesures correctives. En présence de mauvaises conditions de travail, il est difficile pour les professionnels de la santé – sécurité d’assurer un travail sûr et enrichissant sur le plan de la santé. La conception ergonomique du travail et des situations de travail est une des clés d’une vie au travail soutenable.

La campagne de FEES EME 2016-2017 “Ergonomie pour tous les âges ” peut suivre le déroulement des campagnes précédentes, en commençant par une introduction et en se poursuivant à un niveau plus pratique avec la présentation de cas pratiques, de méthodologies ou la discussion d’expériences au niveau national.
Dans la réalisation de cette campagne, l’implication active des sociétés nationales d’ergonomie est essentielle, par exemple par l’organisation de séminaires ou d’autres événements, la distribution de matériel, la collecte et la diffusion d’expériences.

Ergonomics-for-all-ages-2016-2017_FRDownload

Une présentation introductive en format PowerPoint pour la campagne EME 2016-2017 “Ergonomie pour tous les âges” est désormais disponible (cf ci-joint).

In order to develop the future EME campaigns, and to share the experiences within the national societies, we kindly ask all interested parties to gather experiences on the coming EME campaigns in 2016 and 2017 (e.g. information concerning the realized events, the cooperation with other organisations, other initiatives, articles, other useful documents, etc.). This information or material can be sent to the Communication and Promotion Committee of the FEES to info@ergonomics-fees.eu

Ergonomics for all ages

info Leave a comment

For the two-year period of 2016-2017 the Federation of the European Ergonomics Societies (FEES) has decided again to support the annual Healthy Workplaces Campaign of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).

The theme of this campaign is now “Healthy workplaces for all ages – Promoting a sustainable working life“.
An important sub-field of the campaign deals with adapting the work and the workplace to the workers. This topic is especially interesting for ergonomists, for whom it is a part of their core expertise area. The FEES is also an official partner of the EU-OSHA.

Therefore, the yearly FEES campaign European Month of Ergonomics EME in 2016-2017 is dedicated to this subject, by the topic “Ergonomics for all ages“. The aim of the campaign is to demonstrate the potential of ergonomics to promote a sustainable working life, and thus to promote the collaboration between ergonomists and occupational health and safety experts to work together for this subject.
The EU-OSHA campaign “Healthy Workplaces for all ages” aims at recognizing and managing the challenges of an ageing workforce. The focus is not only on aging workforce but on the workers of all ages, highlighting the importance of a life-course approach. Fostering healthy work practices in young workers and developing good working conditions promotes sustainable work throughout their working lives and ensures healthy aging. For more information, see www.healthy-workplaces.eu.

The EU-OSHA campaign covers this topic on the whole, emphasizing OHS management issues relating sustainable work and healthy aging, such as leadership and participation, diversity-sensitive risk assessment, adapting the workplace to the workers, disability prevention and rehabilitation, cooperation with human resources (HR) management, workplace health promotion, lifelong learning, etc. The FEES campaign will, for ergonomists’ part, draw a special attention to ergonomics considerations, like adapting the workplace and work activity to the capabilities of the workers.

The basic reason for work-related health problems lies in poor working conditions, which can most often be attributed to poor ergonomic design. By good ergonomic design the long-term preconditions for safe and healthy work can be created. On the other hand, if ergonomics is forgotten in the design of the workplace it may be difficult, costly or even impossible to achieve good working conditions later by corrective measures. In poor working conditions it is difficult for the OHS personnel to maintain healthy and safe work. Ergonomic design of the work and workplace is one of the keys to a sustainable working life.

The FEES campaign EME 2016-2017 “Ergonomics for all ages” can follow the general scheme of the earlier campaigns, starting from the introduction and continuing to a more practical level, e.g. to presentation of cases or methods and discussion of experiences at the national level. In the realization of the campaign the active involvement of the national ergonomics societies is essential, for example by organizing seminars or other events, by distribution of material, and, by gathering and distribution of experiences.
Thanks to Martti Launis an introductory power point presentation for the EME 2016-2017 campaign “Ergonomics for all ages” is now published.

English: Ergonomics-for-all-ages-2016-2017-v-2.2Download
French: Ergonomics-for-all-ages-2016-2017_FRDownload

In order to develop the future EME campaigns, and to share the experiences within the national societies, we kindly ask all interested parties to gather experiences on the coming EME campaigns in 2016 and 2017 (e.g. information concerning the realized events, the cooperation with other organisations, other initiatives, articles, other useful documents, etc.). This information or material can be sent to the Communication and Promotion Committee of the FEES to info@ergonomics-fees.eu

Ergonomists help to create workplaces for all ages

info Leave a comment

Focusing on sustainable work and workplace safety and health in the context of the ageing workforce, the Healthy Workplaces for All Ages campaign provides a timely reminder that the younger workers of today are the older workers of tomorrow.

The campaign focuses on Europe’s enterprises (both private and public) and the need to promote sustainable work and healthy ageing from the beginning of working life. By doing so, they will be protecting their workers’ health up to and beyond retirement age and their organisations’ productivity.

Focusing on sustainable work and workplace safety and health in the context of the ageing workforce, the Healthy Workplaces for All Ages campaign provides a timely reminder that the younger workers of today are the older workers of tomorrow.

The campaign focuses on Europe’s enterprises (both private and public) and the need to promote sustainable work and healthy ageing from the beginning of working life. By doing so, they will be protecting their workers’ health up to and beyond retirement age and their organisations’ productivity.

This campaign’s objectives are four-fold:

  • · to promote sustainable work and healthy ageing from the beginning of working life;
  • · to highlight the importance of risk prevention throughout working life;
  • · to assist employers and workers (including in small and medium-sized enterprises) by providing information and tools for managing occupational safety and health in the context of an ageing workforce;
  • · to facilitate information and good practice exchange.

The Federation of the European Ergonomics Societies feels the responsibility that this campaign only can be a success with strong ergonomics contribution. Ergonomist around Europe are devoted to do it

https://healthy-workplaces.eu/en

Benchmarking & exchange of good practices in OSH Healthy Workplaces Campaign Partner event

info Leave a comment
Healthy Workplaces Manage StressBenchmarking & exchange of good practices in OSH Healthy Workplaces Campaign Partner event, like every EU-OSHA events offer good opportunity to promote and represent ergonomics in European level.

On beh

Healthy Workplaces Manage StressBenchmarking & exchange of good practices in OSH Healthy Workplaces Campaign Partner event, like every EU-OSHA events offer good opportunity to promote and represent ergonomics in European level.

On behalf of the Federation of the European Ergonomics Societies Gyula Szabó received the official campaign partner certificate from Dr. Christa Sedlatschek, director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).

FEES organises events around Europe every October to discuss the role of ergonomics to achieve the campaign objectives. Therefore, the yearly FEES campaign European Month of Ergonomics EME is dedicated in 2014 and 2015 to this subject, with the title “Ergonomics for managing work-related stress”. The aim of the campaign is to demonstrate the potential of ergonomics knowledge and methods in managing work-related risks and thus to promote the collaboration between ergonomists and occupational health and safety experts to work together for this subject. EME material was made by Martti Launis martti.launis@ttl.fi, Communication and Promotion Committee of FEES. 

This Benchmarking & exchange of good practices in OSH Healthy Workplaces Campaign Partner event organised by EU-OSHA and the Official Campaign Partners of the Healthy Workplaces Campaign clearly demonstrated the importance of managing occupational safety and health (OSH) and psychosocial risks and stress in particular. 

Workshop held were on the topics of: Learning from and reporting incidents and accidents; Leadership training and OSH competence; Fostering an OSH culture in organisations; and Indicators of OSH performance. 

More info @ https://osha.europa.eu/en/seminars/benchmarking-exchange-of-good-practices-in-osh-healthy-workplaces-campaign-partner-event

Ergonomics for managing work-related stress

info Leave a comment

For the two-year period of 2014 and 2015 the Federation of the European Ergonomics Societies (FEES) has decided to support the European campaign “Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress”, organized by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).

The EU-OSHA campaign Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress recognizes the definition “Work-related stress occurs when the demands at work are beyond a workers ability to cope with them”. The campaign aims at (1) raising awareness of the growing problem of work-related stress and psychosocisl risks, (2) provision of the tools and guidance for managing it at the workplace and, (3) highlighting the all-inclusive positive effects of managing these risks both for the workplace and for the business. For more information, see www.healthy-workplaces.eu.

The EU-OSHA campaign covers this topic on the whole, including e.g. organizational issues such as job reorganization, job insecurity, working hours and increasing intensity of work, responsibilities and rewards and, interpersonal matters like bullying or harrashment. The FEES campaign will, for ergonomists’ part, draw a special attention to matters related to work and workplace itself.

The work task design and the design of work systems is in the heart of ergonomics, and their poor design can be an essential source of work-related stress. For example, a poor information system which does not correctly support the worker or the task, or, a working tool or device which is not in the proper control of the worker, will not only become a source of cumulating stress but also a potential reason for accidents and economical losses.

Ergonomists have experience on these work-related stress factors and their diverse consequences. They have developed ways and methods to analyze the work for identifying and reducing associated risks. Furthermore, they have developed design principles and instructions for optimizing the systems and environments to increase both well-being of the users and efficiency of the systems. The ergonomists are also experienced to develop work activity, work organizations and work systems together with all stake holders at the workplace, including occupational health and safety experts.

English: Ergonomics-for-managing-work-related-stress-2014-2015-V4Download
Hungarian: E-for-manageing-work-related-stress-2014-2015-SP-hu-3Download

The power point presentation “Ergonomics for managing work-related stress” is now published for an introduction to the topic. It is intended to support the European Month of Ergonomics organised by the national member societies of the FEES. Its purpose is to disseminate the message of the EME in possible seminars, meetings or other events related to the EME 2014 and 2015. It can be distributed as such for information to all those interested in the topic. The basic content can be used also in articles or other communication material for the campaign. The presentation is distributed in the ppt-format so that it can be translated and modified for local use, possibly shortened or enlargened, added by local examples, photos, etc.

Cooperation between the national ergonomics societies and the organizers of the national Healthy Workplaces campaigns is highly recommended. In such a way a much wider audience to our message can be achieved, and also cooperation between these organisations can be developed for the future. This can mean, for example, organising common seminars or other events, or preparation of common campaign material or, just participating as a presenter in the events of each other.

In order to develop future EME campaigns and to share the experiences within the national societies, we kindly ask the members of the national societies of the FEES to gather experiences on the coming EME campaigns in 2014 and 2015 (e.g. information concerning the realized events, the cooperation with other organisations, other initiatives, articles, other useful documents, etc.).

Martti Launis of the Communication and Promotion Committee of the FEES created this campaign material.

EU-OSHA Campaign Partner Benchmarking Event

info Leave a comment

In the context of the “Healthy Workplaces Campaign 2014-2015” a partnership meeting about “Leadership training and OSH competence of all responsible actors” was held on 2th of July 2014 in Amsterdam.

In the context of the “Healthy Workplaces Campaign 2014-2015” a partnership meeting about “Leadership training and OSH competence of all responsible actors” was held on 2th of July 2014 in Amsterdam.

There were about 60 participants at this meeting organised and hosted by Heineken. FEES as an official campaign partner was represented by R. Hoftijzer, treasurer of the Federation of the European Ergonomics Societies. Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress

After the opening by Herbert Schilthuis, Global Health & Safety Director of Heineken, there was a presentation of Dr. Christa Sedlatschek, EU-agency OSHA director, about the new EU-OSHA campaign 2014-2015 “Healthy workplaces Manage Stress”. There were also two presentation about the Heineken leadership program on OSH.

After the break there were several presentations about “Winning through safety panel”. The subjects were:

  • Leadership drives safety behaviours
  • Leader as safety role model
  • Safety competence in Heineken
  • Work stress –best practices.

The last session was about “OHS competences and Leadership training – Best practices panel”. There several presentation about:

  • The case of Toyota by Patrick Hertsenberg, Managing Director of Toyota Nederland
  • The case of Delphi by Fernando Lopes, Manager of Delphi Powertrain EH&S
  • The case of Baxter by Andrew Bowers, EHS and sustainability Director Baxter
  • The case of European Virtual Institute for Integrated Risk Management by Oliver Salvi, General Manager
  • The case of Ideal Standard by David Tjong, EHS Director Ideal Standard

This partnership meeting shows what companies can do to promote H&S at work with the possibility to understand the role of ergonomics in the reduction of work-related stress.

Healthy Workplaces Campaign Official Partnership

info Leave a comment
Federation of European Ergonomic Societies (FEES) is one of the 87 official partners of the EU-OSHA 2014-2015 Healthy Workplaces campaign. Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress

Healthy Workplaces campaigns are coordinated in more than 30 countries and are recognised as the

Federation of European Ergonomic Societies (FEES) is one of the 87 official partners of the EU-OSHA 2014-2015 Healthy Workplaces campaign. Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress

Healthy Workplaces campaigns are coordinated in more than 30 countries and are recognised as the biggest occupational safety and health (OSH) campaigns in the world. Stress, the topic of the 2014–15 campaign, is the second most frequently reported work-related health problem in Europe and is believed to be the cause of more than half of all lost working days. The campaign partners are aware of the positive effects that tackling psychosocial risks can have on overall business performance, particularly long-term sustainability and social responsibility, and will lead by example and encourage other organisations to manage stress.

Throughout 2014 and 2015 EU-OSHA is campaigning to raise awareness of the importance of managing stress and psychosocial risks in the workplace. Although tackling psychosocial risks and work-related stress may seem challenging, this campaign aims to demonstrate that they can be dealt with in the same logical and systematic way as any other occupational safety and health issue. With this in mind, the Healthy Workplaces Campaign 2014-15 has the following key objectives:

  • to raise awareness of the growing problem of work-related stress and psychosocial risks;
  • to provide and promote the use of simple, practical tools and guidance for managing psychosocial risks and stress in the workplace;
  • to highlight the positive effects of managing psychosocial risks and stress in the workplace, including the business case.

In the frame of the European Months of Ergonomics the Federation of European Ergonomic Societies (FEES) promotes the benefits of good workplace, work contents and work organisation designed with ergonomics approach.

Read more at EU-OSHA