by Brianna Crandall — May 4, 2016 — Recently in Brussels, the European Commission and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), in cooperation with the Netherlands EU Presidency, launched a two-year Europe-wide campaign: Healthy Workplaces for All Ages.
Focusing on sustainable work and workplace safety and health in the context of the aging workforce, the campaign provides a timely reminder that the younger workers of today are the older workers of tomorrow.
The campaign focuses on Europe’s enterprises (both private and public) and the need to promote sustainable work and healthy aging from the beginning of working life. By doing so, they will be protecting their workers’ health up to and beyond retirement age, as well as increasing their organizations’ productivity.
The Netherlands’ Presidency representative, Lodewijk Asscher, emphasized the need to make the labor market sustainable for the future:
This campaign contributes to it. We need to stimulate employers and workers to invest in employability. After all, using the power of people will always get the best result. It energizes people no matter what age. Here, the cradle to the grave concept certainly applies. The sooner you start, the longer you stay healthy and vital, and the better you can cope with change. Because the jobs of today might not exist in the future or might look a lot different to now. Therefore, it is important not to wait until that happens, but to prepare properly in good time.
The campaign’s objectives are four-fold:
- To promote sustainable work and healthy aging from the beginning of working life;
- To highlight the importance of risk prevention throughout working life;
- To assist employers and workers (including in small and medium-sized enterprises) by providing information and tools for managing occupational safety and health in the context of an aging workforce;
- To facilitate information and good practice exchange.
As part of this new campaign, EU-OSHA is also releasing an e-guide on managing safety and health for an aging workforce.
Find out more about the Healthy Workplaces for All Ages campaign on the EU-OSHA Web site, and watch a campaign teaser video or EU-OSHA mascot Napo in “Back to a Healthy Future,” a language-free animation on sustainable work and healthy aging.
