Work-related stress is one of the biggest health and safety challenges facing Europe. Nearly one in four workers is affected by work-related stress, and studies suggest between 50-60% of all lost work days are attributable to work stress. This imposes huge costs both in human distress and impaired economic performance.
Every 3.5 minutes, one EU citizen dies of work-related causes.
Each year, more than 40 million workers in the EU fall ill from stress
159,000 workers in the EU die annually of occupational stress related diseases.
The World Health Organization Global Burden of Disease Survey estimates that mental disease, including stress-related disorders, will be the second leading cause of disabilities by the year 2020.
Stress-related health costs and absenteeism cost the European Union 20 million euro annually. Workers and employers must be made aware of the risks they face and how to best manage them.
Stress at work can affect workers at all levels, in all sectors, and in organizations of all sizes. It affects individual health and safety as well as the health of organizations and national economies.
Prevention is the guiding principle for occupational health and safety legislation in the European Union (Framework Directives 89/391). Health and safety risk assessment is the cornerstone of the European approach to prevent occupational accidents and poor health.
Reports indicate that risk assessment, documentation and supervision are not universally practiced, including in Member States that have traditionally focused on prevention.
|
