Occupational Safety

The prevention of occupational accidents is a very essential task for the society. In 2000, there were 5200 fatal accidents at work in the EU, and around 5 million accidents with more than three days of absence from work. In 2012 these numbers decreased to 3515 and 2.5 million respectively. Occupational safety has a more than 100 years old tradition of accident prevention, both in legislation and research and continues to be successful in steadily decreasing the numbers of accidents.

The aim of this committee is to contribute to the exchange of experiences between the tradition of the management of occupational safety, with methodology of systems safety approaches. Both traditions can benefit from each other. Occupational accidents are common, and they occur in all types of systems and organisations. This mean a different type of challenge compared to when the safety should be controlled in a well defined technical system and focused on clear situations.

When different traditions can meet, there are better opportunities for the integration of occupational safety aspects with design of production systems, software, and the management of other types of risks and hazards. Interested persons are very welcome to join the group. 

Chair

Ben Ale,  ben.ale@xs4all.nl

Co-Chair

Reniers Genserik, genserik.reniers@uantwerpen.be