Documents safety and health campaign 132 results

"This report looks at industrial relations practices regarding health and safety strategies in the European steel sector. The findings are based on desk research and a comparative analysis of company practices in three company case studies: ArcelorMittal in France, Rautaruukki in Finland and Salzgitter AG in Germany. The report offers a transversal analysis, examining the main findings on the role of social dialogue and company practices regarding prevention while also highlighting some specific company and sectoral features triggering psychosocial risks and their prevention. Each of the three case studies presents the company's strategies for assessing and preventing psychosocial issues at work and examines the involvement of the workers or workers' representatives. Two of the three case studies concern company pilot sites involved in addressing psychosocial constraints at work."

"The silicate mineral asbestos is categorized into two main groups based on fiber structure: serpentine asbestos (chrysotile) and amphibole asbestos (crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, tremolite, and actinolite). Chrysotile is used in more than 2 000 applications and is especially prevalent in the construction industry. Although its use is banned or restricted in more than 52 countries, an estimated 107 000 workers die from asbestos exposure each year, and approximately 125 million workers continue to be exposed. Furthermore, ambient exposures persist to which the public is exposed, globally. Today, the primary controversies regarding the use of asbestos are the potencies of different types of asbestos, as opposed whether or not asbestos causes morbidity and mortality. The asbestos industry has promoted and funded research based on selected literature, ignoring both clinical and scientific knowledge. In this piece, we highlight a prominent example of a conflicted publication that sought to undermine the World Health Organization (WHO) campaign to stop the use of all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile asbestos. Independent and rigorous scientific data provide sufficient evidence that chrysotile asbestos, like other forms of asbestos, is a cause of asbestos-related morbidity and premature mortality."

"Background:
Crystalline silica is a human carcinogen and its use is widespread among construction, mining, foundries, and other manufacturing industries.
Purpose:
To evaluate occupational exposure to crystalline silica in Italy.
Methods:
Data were collected from exposure registries and descriptive statistics were calculated for exposure-related variables. The number of potentially exposed workers was estimated in a subset of industrial sectors. Linear mixed model analysis was performed to determine factors affecting the exposure level.
Results:
We found 1387 cases of crystalline silica exposure between 1996 and 2012. Exposure was most common in construction work (AM?=?0·057 mg/m3, N?=?505), and among miners and quarry workers (AM?=?0·048 mg/m3, N?=?238). We estimated that 41?643 workers were at risk of exposure in the selected industrial sectors during the same period.
Conclusions:
This study identified high-risk sectors for occupational exposure to crystalline silica, which can help guide targeted dust control interventions and health promotion campaigns in the workplace."

"Diesel engine exhaust fumes are a mixture of gases, vapours, liquid aerosols and particles created by burning diesel fuels. Diesel fumes may contain over 10 times the amount of soot particles than in petrol exhaust fumes, and the mixture includes several carcinogenic substances, meaning they have the potential to cause cancer. Breathing in high quantities of diesel exhaust fumes can cause irritation in the respiratory tract within a few minutes of exposure, but prolonged exposure over many years may be more harmful. The health effects will depend on the type and quality of diesel fuel being used (for example, whether it's low sulphur), the type and age of the engine, where and how it's used and maintained, and whether a combination of different diesel-powered engines are contributing to overall exposure."

"Research suggests that in Britain nearly 800 people die a year from lung cancer caused by breathing in silica dust at work. In the European Union, around 7,000 cases of lung cancer are caused by this carcinogen annually. Worldwide, it's estimated that millions of employees are exposed to silica dust.
Silica dust is created when the ‘crystalline silica' in materials such as stone, mortar or tiles is broken down and released. It happens when you drill, saw, cut, grind or sand the products – or work on them in any way that disturbs the natural silica content."

"La publication de l'Institut syndical européen pour l'exposition « La promotion de la santé et de la sécurité au travail : tout un art ! » présente des affiches historiques et vintage de différents pays européens qui montrent comment la conception graphique a été utilisée pour promouvoir la santé et la sécurité dans plus de vingt environnements culturels différents. Cette publication montre comment ont évolué les messages et les slogans relatifs à la santé et à la sécurité sur le lieu de travail. Au départ stigmatisants vis-à-vis des travailleurs, considérés comme responsables des accidents et des erreurs, ces messages ont évolué vers une approche plus proactive de la prévention.

Ce travail démontre également l'importance historique de la santé et de la sécurité au travail pour le mouvement syndical européen. Il montre ainsi les risques progressivement identifiés par les travailleurs comme des jalons sur la route de la prévention, en rendant compte de la manière dont la mobilisation de l'intelligence collective a pu être utilisée pour remettre en question la division traditionnelle du travail. Vue sous un angle artistique, cette publication propose un voyage à travers l'art du XXe siècle et des mouvements artistiques et graphiques nationaux les plus importants. Y figurent des photos, des photomontages, des abstractions géométriques et un traitement typographique rigoureux."

"This book stemming from the exhibition ‘The art of preventive health and safety in Europe' presents historical and vintage posters from various European countries showing how graphic design has been used to promote health and safety prevention in more than 20 different cultural environments.
The publication shows how workplace health and safety messages and slogans have evolved, from initially blaming individual workers for accidents and mistakes towards the fostering of a more proactive approach to prevention. The work demonstrates also the historical importance of occupational health and safety for the European trade union movement. It thus presents the risks gradually identified by workers as stepping stones on the road to conceiving prevention, charting how the mobilisation of a collective intelligence served to challenge the traditional division of labour.
Viewed from an artistic angle, meanwhile, the publication offers a journey through the art of the 20th century and across key national artistic and graphic movements, with the incorporation of photography, photomontage, geometric abstraction and rigorous typographic treatment."