Lundqvist, Peter
- Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Research article2021Peer reviewedOpen access
Jakob, Martina Carola; Santa, Dushica; Holte, Kari Anne; Sikkeland, Inger Johanne; Hilt, Bjorn; Lundqvist, Peter
Introduction and objective. Agriculture and forestry are among the most dangerous professions in Europe, with a high level of accidents affecting the sustainability and viability of the sector. International conventions, EU directives and national legislation build the fundamental basis for prevention. The aim of the study is to describe and categorize national mechanisms of occupational safety and health (OSH) for agricultural workers in Europe, to assess the extent of implementing safety regulation, the body in charge, and to give examples of health and safety initiatives. Materials and method. Results of a questionnaire-survey on basic safety regulations on farms sent by e-mail to the representatives of 30 participating European countries in the context of the Sacurima COST action network (CA 16123) are presented. Due to the complexity, only selected countries are described in this study highlighting the regulative bodies, occupational health services or specific training offers, as well as the complexity of the mechanisms. Results. One of the most serious issues and deficits of EU OSH regulation is the exclusion of self-employed farmers who compose nearly 90% of the farming population. This leads to serious under-reporting of accidents, and because one of the most common measures for the performance of health and safety initiatives are the injury and ill health statistics, better registration systems are urgently needed in almost all countries as a basis for preventive efforts. Conclusions. The results of the study provide a basis for raising awareness about the current OSH systems in Europe, and the importance of developing sector specific OSH strategies.The proposed activities should assist in tackling high accident rates and poor occupational health for self-employed farmers.
agriculture; health and safety; COST; Sacurima; Europe; social security
Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine
2021, Volume: 28, number: 3, pages: 452-457
Publisher: Inst Rural Health Lublin, Poland
SDG3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
SDG8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Environmental Health and Occupational Health
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26444/aaem/140197
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/114066