Statement by Commissioner Thyssen on the 25th anniversary of the EU Agency for Health and Safety at Work

2019 marks the 25^th birthday of the European Union Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) in Bilbao. Celebrating the occasion, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen, said: 

"In the past twenty five years, European legislation and the relentless efforts of EU-OSHA have made our workplaces safer, healthier and more productive. Europe is a pioneer and boasts some of the highest standards on health and safety at work in the world. We are addressing the biggest killer in the workplace: occupational cancer. We have reduced the number of workers who died in an accident at work by almost 25% and the number of workers reporting health problems by 10%. The Agency has played a crucial role to achieve this, as well as the close involvement of social partners to adapt our efforts to the reality of companies. The European Pillar of Social Rights has provided support at the highest political level to make European workplaces even safer and healthier, and under my mandate I have put concrete proposals on the table to better protect workers against cancer-causing chemicals. We will continue our work to make Europe a better place where all European workers come home healthy and safe every day after work." 

The full statement can be found here. 

SOURCE: European Commission Press Release