EU-OSHA launches visualisation tool on safety and health of Europe’s ageing workforce
The project ‘Safer and healthier work at any age’ explores demographic trends, challenges, and existing strategies and policies for safe and healthy ageing at work. The findings are now available online and can be easily accessed through a user-friendly, interactive visualisation tool.
By 2040, almost 27 % of the EU’s population is expected to be over the age of 65 (Eurostat 2014). This has serious implications for workers, employers and society as a whole. The objectives of the three-year project, carried out by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) at the request of the European Parliament, were to examine the safety and health of older workers and to identify ways of ensuring sustainable work. Among other things, the project highlighted examples of workplace safety and health strategies that consider workforce ageing, and the drivers and barriers to the implementation of such strategies. The results aim to inform policy development in this area.
The multilingual visualisation tool allows easy and quick access to the results. Five interactive dashboards, featuring graphs with facts and figures, allow users to explore the key issues and compare country-specific and EU-wide demographics. Users can also examine the existing policies, strategies and programmes of EU Member States, and compare policy development and approaches in different European countries. Country profiles provide an at-a-glance visual summary of the situation in 31 European countries, with links to more detailed information on each country.
In addition, in-depth reviews, reports and case studies on rehabilitation and return-to-work strategies are also now available. For example, the project examined the specific issues facing women in the context of an ageing workforce, and these findings, along with their implications for policy development, are summarised in a research review.
A final overview report combines all of the project’s findings and discusses their policy relevance. The information sheet accompanying the report summarises the key points. All of these products, aiming to inform policy-makers and the occupational safety and health community, are now available online.
Links:
Check out the visualisation tool
Download the overview report and summary
Find out more about the ‘Safer and healthier work at any age’ project