Health and safety at work is a major policy issue for the EU. It also happens to be one of the more effective areas, where the legislation has a wide-reaching impact.
But while facts and figures on occupational health and safety may be one thing, how safe do workers in different EU countries actually feel on the construction site?
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Recent research from London-based health and safety consultants Arinite examines the data from Eurostat on health and safety incidents across the EU 28 countries, comparing it with Eurofound survey data on the perception of safe people in the workplace.
What the comparison reveals is that several countries perceive their construction sites to be far more dangerous than the volume of accidents would suggest.
Take Romania and Latvia – both of which have one of the lowest recorded volumes of non-fatal accidents in the EU. Romania had 3,101 in 2014 whilst Latvia had 1,409 (Germany, on the other hand, had a staggering 704,819).
Despite Romania and Latvia’s apparently relatively safe construction industry, according to a 2015 Eurofound survey, these countries had the lowest percentage of respondents saying they are “Very Satisfied” with their working conditions. Estonia is also quite skewed (see below).
European working conditions survey 2015
The Eurofound survey asked 44,000 respondents, randomly selected across occupations, sectors and demographics, a series of questions related to how exposed workers felt they were to physical and psychosocial risks.
What could be causing this divergence in perception and reality? Is this a matter of simple workplace design and psychology, or is there something else causing these differences among nations?
Reasons for the discrepancies in EU safety
There are indeed many factors at play when it comes to safety in the workplace. Across the board, job quality, financial security, the development of skills, national labour laws and more will all factor into whether a worker feels secure in their working environment.
A construction worker might be less daunted by workplace risks when they feel the safety provisions are in place, and know they are protected by strong labour laws that come with a pecuniary reparation.
Number of workplace incidents 2014
It’s also worth noting that the strength of bureaucracies may differ between nations. Some are likely to be more exacting when it comes to recording incidents. Therefore, the fact that one nation has higher accident statistics recorded may not necessarily indicate how relatively safe or dangerous the national workplace is, but rather how effective incident reporting is.
The good news is that the volume of incidents in construction has been dropping year-on-year. In 2008 there were 3,140,042 recorded incidents across the EU 28. That figure, as of 2014, has dropped by almost 800,000 down to 2,375,259. It seems the EU Framework on Health and Safety at Work has had a positive impact.
The need to improve working conditions is clearly a collective concern among EU nations. We can perhaps all hope that this safety net continues to support workers across Europe and ensures the accident statistics across nations decrease, as the perception of safety in the workplace improves.
Top image: Maigi/Dreamstime.com
