On 24 February 2021, EFEE attended the online conference organised by the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work (EU-OSHA), gathering OiRA EU Social Partners representatives from ten different sectors, including Education and Training. Opening up the floor, William Cockburn, Head of the Prevention and Research Unit and Kristine Krivsmane, Team Leader of the European Commission Sectoral Social Dialogue, informed the participants about two key events on OSH for the upcoming month. Firstly, the adoption of the Action Plan on the European Pillar of Social Rights on 3 March and secondly, the Liaison Forum dedicated to OSH organised with EU-OSHA on 30 March. Following these introductory remarks, Michael Seifert (EU-OSHA) presented the main features and principles of the OiRA tools as well as the national adaptation process, enabling to translate the tools and implement legal references and other specificities to each country. The next speaker, Julia Flintrop (EU-OSHA), updated the participants with the new technical developments available and provided a short presentation on the new Covid tools. Within these updates, it is now possible to get a full overview of every current or projected measure, which can be printed out or downloaded and shared with everyone involved in the risk assessment management. Ms Flintrop furthermore added that EU-OSHA is currently working on the development of a training tool within risk assessment. Subsequently, Isaline Ossieur (EFEE) and Marie Raverdeau (ETUCE) introduced the participants to the two OiRA tools developed for the early childhood and secondary education levels and to the ongoing dissemination project (OSH4Edu) aiming to raise awareness about these tools at the national level. Finally, Julia Flintrop shared the results of the mid-term evaluation on OiRA tools. In a nutshell, Ms Flintrop explained that the most successful OiRA tools are the ones which are fully integrated, and on a broader level, the development of OiRA tools has helped to set standards at EU level and facilitated social dialogue.

For more details, please contact isaline.ossieur@educationemployers.eu