Welcome to the working conditions website

Our goal is to facilitate the improvement of working conditions in the European Union by promoting a global approach to well-being at work. The EU supports and complements the work of Member States striving to improve the work place environment through cooperation and exchange of best practices, and by means of directives setting minimum requirements on working conditions and health and safety.

This is set out in Article 137 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

There are around 200 million people employed in EU- 25. Over 150,000 fatalities occur each year in the EU resulting from either work-related accidents (8,900) or diseases (142,000) - (Source: Decent work - Safe work ILO 2005). The most reported symptoms of work-related health effects are backache (29%) and muscular pains (28%) followed by fatigue and stress (27%). These problems are reported mainly by workers in the agriculture, health and education, and construction sectors. (Source: Fourth European Working Conditions Survey resume)
On average, 340 million days are lost per year due to health problems caused by work - (Source: Third European survey on working conditions). Our common goal, at both EU and Member State level, is to considerably improve this performance.