2008 discharge: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work EU-OSHA

PURPOSE: to present the final accounts of the European Agency for Safety and Health for the financial year 2008.

CONTENT: this document sets out a detailed account of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2008. It notes that the final budget amounted to EUR 14.9 million (same amount as 2007) of which 96.5% stems from a Community subsidy (DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities) and 2.4% from DG Enlargement.

As regards the staffing policy, the Agency, whose head office is based in Bilbao (Spain), set out 44 posts in its establishment plan of which 41 are currently occupied. 23 other posts (auxiliary contracts, seconded national experts and local staff) are also occupied totalling 64 posts assigned to operational, administrative and mixed tasks.

In 2008, the Agency’s main activities concentrated on the following:

European Risk Observatory (ERO)

·        Completion of Phases I and II of the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER).

·        Publication of reports (occupational skin diseases and dermal exposure, exposure to vibration).

·        Data collection on waste management and on respiratory diseases.

Working environment information

·        Data collection of good practice case studies and links to good practice information providers on road transport.

·        Establishment of a network of European organisations which can provide OSH economic incentives.

·        Publication of an MSD prevention report.

·        Publication of a wide range of products for the Healthy Workplace Campaign 2008/2009 (HWC).

·        Establishment of a risk assessment resource database on the Agency’s website for the HWC 2008/2009.

·        Publications of good practice information materials for the Horeca sector.

·        Six E-facts on Cleaning Workers.

·        Extension of the Agency’s website good practice area, in particular in the fields of construction, health care and accident prevention.

·        Participation in seminars, conferences and other events.

Communication, campaigning and promotion

·      ‘Lighten the Load’ summit - campaign on musculoskeletal disorders.

·      ‘Healthy Workplaces Campaign.

·      Good for You. Good for Business’ – European campaign on risk assessment.

·      Multilingual web-based and printed information products on occupational safety and health.

·      Monitoring and evaluation: evaluation report of European campaigns on young workers, musculoskeletal disorders and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Networking and coordination

·        Further development of focal point network.

·        Liaison with European and international organisations.

·        Institutional capacity building in candidate and potential candidate countries.

The complete version of the final accounts may be found at the following address: http://osha.europa.eu/en/about/finance