EPSU official partner in EU OSHA's Healthy Workplaces Campaign "Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress"

Bilbao/Brussels, 1 December 2014

EPSU in November 2014 became official campaign partner of the 2014/2015 Healthy Workplaces Campaign “Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress” of the European Agency on Health and Safety at Work (EU OSHA), alongside other European trade union federations and jointly with HOSPEEM. You can visit here the campaign partner website for EPSU.

You can read here the letter of EU OSHA's Director Dr. Christa Sedlatschek confirming to EPSU having been accepted as European Campaign Partner.


Against a backdrop of increased job insecurity, heavy workloads and work pressure that have gone up in the last decade in a number of countries, in many jobs and at a great number of workplaces, psycho-social risks and stress at work have become one of the two most prevalent health and safety risks in Europe across all economic sectors, together with musculoskeletal disorders.

EPSU will support EU OSHA’s Healthy Workplaces Campaign together with its affiliates. We will distribute and promote the campaign throughout its regular activities, on EPSU’s website and in the EPSU Newsletter. In the context of the joint project with HOSPEEM, “Addressing musculoskeletal disorders and psycho-social risks and stress at work in the hospital sector (2014-2016)”, EPSU will co-organise, together with its Finnish affiliates JHL, Superliitto and Tehy, a conference on 10 November 2015 in Helsinki that will also involve EU OSHA. The aims of the event are to identify the main risks and challenges, but also existing solutions and good practice in the hospital/health care sector and to work towards an agreement and commitment on what the social partners on all level can and should do to reduce and eliminate the risks. EU OSHA’s Healthy Workplace Campaign will also be reflected in EPSU’s work on social and employment policy. EPSU’s work on the prevention and reduction of psycho-social risks and stress at work will take into account the European autonomous framework agreement on work-related stress (2004).

Jan Willem Goudriaan, General Secretary of EPSU, underlines: "Psycho-social risks and stress at the workplace have become one of the two most important health and safety risks for European workers, including for those working in public services. Cuts in public budgets, staff shortages, increased pressures and demands at the workplace have contributed to a situation where half of European workers report that work-related stress is common in their workplace and two third attributing it to hours worked or workload.” He adds: “For EPSU the reduction and elimination of stress and psychological problems is a priority, part of good working conditions and work places and an important task for work place representatives to tackle. Workers and employers should act together to identify and eradicate the causes of stress and psycho-social risks at work by giving particular attention to work organisation, work load and work intensity. The EU OSHA Healthy Workplace Campaign 'Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress' will be instrumental to make progress in this regard."