On 9 June, the Healthy Workplaces Campaign Partner Good Practice Exchange event was held online with a number of interesting presentations which lead to lively discussions and valuable feedback on how to move forward in the frame of the Healthy Workplaces Lighthen the Load campaign.

EU-OSHA Project Manager Dietmar Elsler opened the meeting, welcoming all participants and highlighting upcoming good practice activities in 2021 and beyond. Then EU-OSHA Project Manager Annick Starren introduced the various presentations and chaired the ‘question and answer’ sessions.

The presentation by Dr. Hansjörg Hagels, Head Occupational Safety Germany at official campaign partner Boehringer Ingelheim focused on how the Healthy Workplaces campaign has inspired their own initiative, ‘The Health Navigator Concept’, which aims to inspire its staff to promote health topics amongst their teams.

Boehringer Ingelheim also presented its education and training programmes, which include training days on ergonomics and workplaces’ inspection analyses, mental health, and the importance of taking breaks.

Professor Annamaria Iagnocco, President of official campaign partner EULAR gave a presentation on the importance of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) prevention at work, the difficulties faced by workers suffering from them and the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. EULAR is committed to helping people living with RMDs with the aim of increasing their participation in work by 2023.

Finally, EULAR highlighted its ‘Don’t delay, Connect Today’ and ‘Time2Work’ campaigns and summed up the importance of creating an open, supportive and flexible culture to discuss RMDs at the workplace.

EU-OSHA gave a first look of the new project on supporting compliance and better OSH practice through leveraging market-based initiatives. The scope of the project will involve studies into policies, strategies, programmes, case studies and actions relevant to improving OSH in EU workplaces through supply chain relations, which could be further supported by innovative inspection practices, business incentives and social reporting schemes.

The presentation was followed by a stimulating discussion with the participants, who provided valuable suggestions on how the project might be complemented by different stakeholders organisations.