The European Commission has launched a public consultation to gather insights and contributions from the public further to results of the evaluation of the European Strategy on Safety and Health at Work 2007-2012.

This should help identify current and future challenges in the occupational safety and health area, and identify solutions to address these challenges.

All citizens and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation, which will be open from 31 May 2013 to 26 August 2013. Contributions are particularly sought from:

• representatives of Member States' public authorities
• organisations representing employees and employers
• stakeholders and experts with an interest in the area of occupational safety and health.

Evaluation of the 2007-2012 strategy

As a basis for the consultation, the European Commission published today the results of the evaluation of the European Strategy on Safety and Health at Work 2007-2012.

The conclusions of this evaluation confirm the importance of the European dimension of occupational safety and health policy, in particular as regards the positive trend in work accident reduction and the role of the EU strategy in coordinating efforts and providing a common framework for action.

For the future, more still needs to be done, in particular to:

• improve the implementation of occupational safety and health provisions in SMEs and micro-enterprises
• develop more accurate monitoring and evidence gathering tools
• better focus on emerging risks and occupational illness
• effectively tackle the occupational safety and health problems linked to the ageing of the working population.