Resources - European and International Organisations

This document summarises institutions and important organisations within the European Union and beyond.

The European Union

EU institutions

On the website of the European Union a list of activities is given. In this list, several links can be seen with ergonomics, depending on the specific issue. For example: public health, employment and social affairs, information society, transport, ...

Furthermore, a list of EU institutions is given, amongst them 15 agencies. Relevant for ergonomics can be:

• the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work,
• the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working conditions,
• the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work aims to make Europe's workplaces safer, healthier and more productive. The European Agency acts as a catalyst for developing, collecting, analysing and disseminating information that improves the state of occupational safety and health in Europe. The Agency is a tripartite European Union organisation and brings together representatives from three key decision-making groups in each of the EU's Member States - governments, employers and workers' organisations.

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions is a tripartite EU body, set up to:

• provide authoritative guidance and advice to social policy makers;
• assess and analyse living and working conditions;
• report on developments and trends, especially those driving change;
• contribute to improving the quality of life.

Every four years the Foundation prepares a new rolling work programme. The work programmes are the outcome of detailed deliberations within and between the groups making up the administrative board. The title of the current four-year programme, available online, is: Changing Europe: Better work, better life.

The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) is the European Union's reference centre for vocational education and training. It provides information on and analyses of vocational education and training systems, policies, research and practice by means of a website, publications, study visits.

Other important EU organisations

European Work Organisation Network

The main goal of the EWON is to set up a process for fostering organisational innovation, by stimulating and strengthening partnership with the Social Partners to take a leading role, at all levels, in developing a new approach to work organisation. EWON will

• identify and analyse new trends in work organisation from which models, methods and processes adaptable in Europe can be developed. EWON will also consider the risks and opportunities of those organisational solutions and analyse the process and difficulties for their introduction;
• promote and disseminate new forms of work organisation throughout the European Union;
• support and stimulate, through technical information and analysis, all relevant actors, including Social Partners and their follow-up to the Communication;
• provide input (on request) to the European Commission;
• share, integrate and exchange knowledge across national boundaries, also by establishing relationships with research institutes and other Networks.

European Social Fund

The ESF is the main financial tool through which the European Union translates its strategic employment policy aims into action. The ESF provides European Union funding on a major scale for programmes which develop or regenerate people's 'employability'. This task focuses on providing citizens with appropriate work skills as well as developing their social interaction skills, thereby improving their self-confidence and adaptability in the job marketplace. There is information on how the Structural Funds and, in particular the ESF, are implemented in each Member State.

Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists

CREE is an independent registration organisation, certifying professional ergonomists working in Europe and award them the title of an ‘European Ergonomist’ (Eur.Erg). Members of CREE are the national ergonomics societies within the European Union. Via those national societies as its agents, CREE specifies the standards of knowledge and practical experience defining an European Ergonomist, and registers all applicants who are assessed as meeting these requirements.

European Network for Workplace Health Promotion

The ENWHP promotes good practice in workplace health promotion and advocates the adoption of such practice in all European workplaces. The European Network for Workplace Health Promotion is an informal network of national occupational health and safety institutes, public health, health promotion, and statutory social insurance institutions. Through the joint efforts of all its members and partners, it aims to contribute to improving workplace health and well-being and reduce the impact of work related ill health on the European workforce. The network has currently 28 members.

International Labour Organisation - Safework

The Safework programme of the International Labour Organisation has four major goals:

• preventive policies and programmes are developed to protect workers in hazardous occupations and sectors;
• effective protection is extended to vulnerable groups of workers falling outside the scope of traditional protective measures;
• governments and employers' and workers' organizations are better equipped to address problems of workers' well-being, occupational health care and the quality of working life;
• the social and economic impact of improving workers' protection is documented and recognized by policy- and decision-makers.

Areas of action are:

• accident and disease information,
• hazardous work,
• chemical safety,
• occupational health,
• workers well-being,
• gender issues,
• radiation protection, and
• labour inspection.

European Association of National Productivity Centres

The purpose of the EANPC is to facilitate and increase exchanges of information and experiences, and arrange co-operation among participating bodies. The Association operates on the basis of projects, each entrusted to a member organisation, usually in cooperation with two other members. Of prime concern are the workshop meetings arranged in rotation by a host member, recent meetings have centred on key topics of concern to enterprises and governments like labour productivity in service sector, productivity and structural change at the regional level, productivity and environmental improvement and eLearning.

Within the context of the EANPC, the European Productivity Network has been established. EPN is open to institutions and individuals subscribing to the philosophy of the 1999 Memorandum on Productivity, Innovation, Quality of Working Life and Employment.

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Page created 2003 by Veerle Hermans - last revision 06.11.2007 by Dietmar Gude