Every year, nearly 5,500 people are killed on their workplace across the European Union according to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.
4.5 million accidents resulted in more than 3 days absence from work (amounting to around 146 million working days lost per year). These accidents are estimated to cost the EU about 20 billion Euro. The problem affects all sectors of the economy and is particularly acute in enterprises with less than 50 workers.
The French governement has decided to tackle this burden and issued on the 18th February a four-years Health at Work Plan (2005-2009). Nearly 700 hundred people are killed every year in France and 35.000 professional diseases are declared.
This plan aims at decreasing the number of accidents and improving prevention by:
Strenghtening enforcement of existing laws, and
Providing independent scientific expertise on risk assessment.
Moreover, in late 2005, an agency in charge of Health at Work will be created in order to fullfil European commitments. It will, for instance, play a key role in registering and evaluating chemical subtances, complying with the future REACH directive.
